UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 00-6954

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, versus

EARL LEE NOLTON, JR., Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt. Deborah K. Chasanow, District Judge. (CR- 96-120-DKC, CA-98-3412-DKC)

Submitted: May 8, 2001 Decided: May 23, 2001

Before NIEMEYER, LUTTIG, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Earl Lee Nolton, Jr., Appellant Pro Se. Odessa Palmer Jackson, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

See Local Rule 36(c).

PER CURIAM: Earl Lee Nolton, Jr., seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying his motion filed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2000). We have reviewed the record and the district court’s opin- ion and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we deny a certif- icate of appealability and dismiss the appeal on the reasoning of the district court. United States v. Nolton, Nos. CR-96-120-DKC; CA-98-3412-DKC (D. Md. June 27, 2000).* 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

* Nolton alleges that his sentence is illegal under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000). We recently held in United States v. Sanders, F.3d , 2001 WL 369719 (4th Cir. Apr. 13, 2001) (No. 00-6281), that the new rule announced in Apprendi is not retroactively applicable to cases on collateral review. According- ly, Nolton’s Apprendi claim is not cognizable.