U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2024

United States v. Jonathan Norris

United States v. Jonathan Norris
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit · Decided December 10, 2024

United States v. Jonathan Norris

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 24-6619 Doc: 6 Filed: 12/10/2024 Pg: 1 of 2

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-6619

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. JONATHAN MORRISON NORRIS, Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Thomas D. Schroeder, District Judge. (1:17-cr-00242-TDS-1; 1:24-cv- 00341-TDS-LPA)

Submitted: December 5, 2024 Decided: December 10, 2024

Before GREGORY and RICHARDSON, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jonathan Morrison Norris, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

USCA4 Appeal: 24-6619 Doc: 6 Filed: 12/10/2024 Pg: 2 of 2

PER CURIAM: Jonathan Morrison Norris appeals the district court’s order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and construing his Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for relief from judgment as an unauthorized, successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion and dismissing it on that basis. ∗ Our review of the record confirms that the district court properly construed Norris’s Rule 60(b) motion as a successive § 2255 motion over which it lacked jurisdiction because he failed to obtain prefiling authorization from this court.

See 28 U.S.C. §§ 2244(b)(3)(A), 2255(h); McRae, 793 F.3d at 397-400. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order.

Consistent with our decision in United States v. Winestock, 340 F.3d 200, 208 (4th Cir. 2003), we construe Norris’s notice of appeal and informal brief as an application to file a second or successive § 2255 motion. Upon review, we conclude that Norris’s claims do not meet the relevant standard. See 28 U.S.C. § 2255(h). We therefore deny authorization to file a successive § 2255 motion.

We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

∗ A certificate of appealability is not required to appeal the district court’s jurisdictional categorization of a Rule 60(b) motion as an unauthorized, successive § 2255 motion. United States v. McRae, 793 F.3d 392, 400 (4th Cir. 2015).

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