Filed: Mar. 19, 1996
Latest Update: Feb. 12, 2020
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 95-7688 WILLIAM BARTHOLOMEW PRECHTL, III, Petitioner - Appellant, versus STANLEY R. WITKOWSKI, Warden, Perry Correc- tional Institute; ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NORTH CAROLINA, Respondents - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, at Charleston. Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., District Judge. (CA-95-150-2-17AJ) Submitted: March 5, 1996 Decided: March 19, 1996 Before WILLIAMS, MICHAEL, and MOTZ,
Summary: UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 95-7688 WILLIAM BARTHOLOMEW PRECHTL, III, Petitioner - Appellant, versus STANLEY R. WITKOWSKI, Warden, Perry Correc- tional Institute; ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NORTH CAROLINA, Respondents - Appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, at Charleston. Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., District Judge. (CA-95-150-2-17AJ) Submitted: March 5, 1996 Decided: March 19, 1996 Before WILLIAMS, MICHAEL, and MOTZ, ..
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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 95-7688
WILLIAM BARTHOLOMEW PRECHTL, III,
Petitioner - Appellant,
versus
STANLEY R. WITKOWSKI, Warden, Perry Correc-
tional Institute; ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NORTH
CAROLINA,
Respondents - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Columbia, at Charleston. Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., District Judge.
(CA-95-150-2-17AJ)
Submitted: March 5, 1996 Decided: March 19, 1996
Before WILLIAMS, MICHAEL, and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
William Bartholomew Prechtl, III, Appellant Pro Se. Donald John
Zelenka, Chief Deputy Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina,
for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
William B. Prechtl appeals from the district court's order
granting summary judgment for the Respondents on his 28 U.S.C. ยง
2254 (1988) petition. Prechtl raised fifty claims in his petition.
We have reviewed the district court's opinion adopting the magis-
trate judge's recommendation and find no error with its determina-
tion that only the claims raised before the South Carolina Supreme
Court in Prechtl's direct appeal from his criminal conviction or in
his petition to appeal the denial of his post-conviction relief
application may be addressed by the federal courts. We therefore
affirm the dismissal of all other claims on the reasoning of the
district court. Prechtl v. Witkowski, No. CA-95-150-2-17AJ (D.S.C.
Oct. 11, 1995).
Prechtl concedes that some of his claims may be barred by pro-
cedural default, but contends that they should be reviewed anyway
for three reasons: (1) his attorney's failure to present witnesses
at his post-conviction relief hearing constituted ineffective
assistance of counsel, thus resulting in both cause and prejudice;
(2) he is actually innocent; and (3) there was an intervening
change in the law regarding one claim. Our review reveals no error
in the district court's disposal of Prechtl's first two explana-
tions. Therefore we dismiss these two allegations as methods to at-
tack procedurally defaulted claims on the reasoning of the district
court. Prechtl v. Witkowski, No. CA-95-150-2-17AJ (D.S.C. Oct. 11,
1995).
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Prechtl's third attempt to obtain federal review centers
around a jury instruction that "malice may be inferred from the use
of a deadly weapon." Prechtl contends that an intervening change in
the law rendered this instruction constitutionally infirm. We find,
however, that the rule upon which Prechtl relies to demonstrate
constitutional infirmity existed before the trial court charged the
jury. Accordingly, there was no intervening change in the law and
we dismiss this claim as meritless.
Having decided that Prechtl has no avenues through which to
litigate procedurally defaulted claims in federal court, we turn to
the five claims raised in his direct appeal and petition for
certiorari to the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Our review of
the district court's opinion accepting the recommendation of the
magistrate judge reveals no reversible error in the grant of sum-
mary judgment for the Respondents on these claims. Accordingly, we
deny a certificate of probable cause to appeal and dismiss the ap-
peal on the reasoning of the district court. Prechtl v. Witkowski,
No. CA-95-150-2-17AJ (D.S.C. Oct. 11, 1995). 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
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