Key

MEMORANDUM *

Steven Key appeals his conviction and sentence for distribution of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I.

Key first complains that the district court judge should have recused himself pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 455 because the judge previously presided over criminal proceedings involving Joe Woodson, a government informant and trial witness in Key’s case. Key concedes that the judge was not actually biased. He nevertheless contends that certain actions by the district court in connection with Woodson’s ease created an appearance of bias. We disagree. That the court presided over the informant’s prosecution, alone, is insufficient to create the appearance of bias. See United States v. Winston, 613 F.2d 221, 223 (9th Cir.1980) (holding that the judge’s impartiality was not compromised by the judge’s having presided over a co-defendant’s pretrial hearing). Nor does the judge’s postponement of Woodson’s plea entry demonstrate the appearance of bias, particularly when Key’s case had not yet been assigned to the same judge. The failure to issue a violator’s warrant, which could have led to a…