UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 99-6077

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus

TIMOTHY LEE FEWELL, Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. Robert D. Potter, Senior District Judge. (CR-92-284-P, CA-96-444-P)

Submitted: March 9, 1999 Decided: April 19, 1999

Before WILKINS, NIEMEYER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Timothy Lee Fewell, Appellant Pro Se. James Michael Sullivan, Assistant United States Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

See Local Rule 36(c).

PER CURIAM: Timothy Lee Fewell seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying his motion to reconsider/reopen a prior action filed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West 1994 & Supp. 1996), and related motions.* We have reviewed the record and the district court’s opinion and find no reversible error. The district court properly construed Fewell’s motion to reconsider/reopen as a second or successive § 2255 motion. Before filing a second or successive motion in the district court, Fewell must obtain authorization from this court.

See 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 2244(b)(3)(A), 2255 (West Supp. 1998). Because Fewell has not obtained such authorization, the district court’s dismissal of his motion to reconsider/reopen was not in error.

Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED

* Fewell has waived appellate review of the denial of the related motions by failing to present argument in his informal brief. See 4th Cir. R. 34(b).