Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca4-09-07664/USCOURTS-ca4-09-07664-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
James Graham
Appellant
State of South Carolina
Appellee
Warden of Evans Correctional Institution
Appellee

Document Text:

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 09-7664

JAMES GRAHAM,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v.

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA; WARDEN OF EVANS CORRECTIONAL 

INSTITUTION,

Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of 

South Carolina, at Rock Hill. Margaret B. Seymour, District 

Judge. (0:08-cv-02793-MBS)

Submitted: May 20, 2010 Decided: May 24, 2010

Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

James Graham, Appellant Pro Se. Alphonso Simon, Jr., OFFICE OF 

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF SOUTH CAROLINA, Donald John Zelenka, 

Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for 

Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:

James Graham seeks to appeal the district court’s 

order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and 

denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2006) petition. The 

order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues 

a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) (2006). 

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) (2006). A prisoner satisfies this 

standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find 

that any assessment of the constitutional claims by the district 

court is debatable or wrong and that any dispositive procedural 

ruling by the district court is likewise debatable. 

Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38 (2003); Slack v. 

McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); Rose v. Lee, 252 F.3d 676, 

683-84 (4th Cir. 2001). We have independently reviewed the 

record and conclude that Graham has not made the requisite 

showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability 

and dismiss the appeal. 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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