Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-13-07175/USCOURTS-ca4-13-07175-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Dennis Lamar Bruton
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 13-7175

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

 Plaintiff – Appellee,

v.

DENNIS LAMAR BRUTON,

 Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western 

District of North Carolina, at Asheville. Martin K. Reidinger, 

District Judge. (1:09-cr-00013-MR-3; 1:12-cv-00123-MR)

Submitted: January 15, 2015 Decided: January 20, 2015

Before WILKINSON and NIEMEYER, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior 

Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Dennis Lamar Bruton, Appellant Pro Se. William Michael Miller, 

Assistant United States Attorney, Thomas A. O’Malley, OFFICE OF 

THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Anne Magee Tompkins, United States 

Attorney, Charlotte, North Carolina; Amy Elizabeth Ray, 

Assistant United States Attorney, Jill Westmoreland Rose, OFFICE 

OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Asheville, North Carolina, for 

Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:

Dennis Lamar Bruton seeks to appeal the district 

court’s order dismissing as untimely his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2012)

motion. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or 

judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. 

§ 2253(c)(1)(B) (2012). A certificate of appealability will not 

issue absent “a substantial showing of the denial of a 

constitutional right.” 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) (2012). When the 

district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies 

this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would 

find that the district court’s assessment of the constitutional 

claims is debatable or wrong. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 

484 (2000); see Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38 

(2003). When the district court denies relief on procedural 

grounds, the prisoner must demonstrate both that the dispositive 

procedural ruling is debatable, and that the motion states a 

debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack, 

529 U.S. at 484-85. 

We have independently reviewed the record and conclude 

that Bruton has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we 

deny a certificate of appealability, deny Bruton’s motion to 

appoint counsel, and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral 

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately 

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presented in the materials before this court and argument would 

not aid the decisional process. 

DISMISSED

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