RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit I.O.P. 32.1(b) File Name: 19a0227p.06 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT TIMOTHY JAMES NEILL, JR., ┐ Petitioner-Appellant, │ │ No. 18-5350 > v. │ │ │ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Respondent-Appellee. │ ┘ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee at Cookeville. Nos. 2:11-cr-00001-5; 2:14-cv-00013—Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr., District Judge. Decided and Filed: September 5, 2019 Before: DONALD, LARSEN, and NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judges _________________ COUNSEL ON BRIEF: Michael C. Holley, FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellant. Cecil W. VanDevender, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Nashville, Tennessee, for Appellee. _________________ OPINION _________________ BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge. In 2011, Timothy Neill, Jr. (“Neill”) pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). He was sentenced to ninety-two months imprisonment, and on advice of counsel, he decided not to pursue an appeal. Neill subsequently filed a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, arguing, among other things, that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel in regard to his appellate strategy. The district court denied his § 2255 motion and, No. 18-5350 Neill v. United States Page 2 later, denied a motion for reconsideration of his ineffective assistance of counsel claim. After denying the motion for reconsideration, however, the district court issued a certificate of appealability because reasonable jurists could disagree with its disposition of Neill’s claim for ineffective assistance. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM. I. Neill has a lengthy criminal record, including multiple felonies. In 2010, he was on parole with the state of Tennessee, and in June of that year, he was photographed holding a semiautomatic rifle. As part of a federal investigation into gun trafficking, authorities discovered the photograph. On January 20, 2011, the state of Tennessee revoked his parole and took him into custody, imposing a sentence of more than forty-two months for the violation. On March 2, 2011, based on the same photograph, he was indicted by federal agents for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). Soon thereafter, he was transferred to federal custody and pleaded guilty on September 12, 2011. His sentencing was delayed for reasons that are not pertinent here, but he was eventually scheduled to be sentenced on January 11, 2013, approximately twenty-two months later. During the intervening period, he was transferred back to state custody for nine months so that he could “earn behavioral and program credits, which [could] shorten the length [of his sentence].” Thus, he spent thirteen months in federal custody prior to being sentenced. In preparation for Neill’s federal sentencing, the probation office prepared a Presentence Investigation Report (“PSR”). According to the PSR, Neill had twenty-two criminal history points, establishing a criminal history category of VI, the highest category in the Sentencing Guidelines. His base offense level was twenty-three, which led to a Guidelines sentence range ...
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