**UN PUBLISHED** 
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

**No. 1**  **2 -**  **8019**

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , P laintiff

- Appell ee ,

v. FAHED T. TAWALBEH , Defendant

- Appell ant . Appeal from the United States District Court for the We stern District of Virginia , at Roanoke
. Samuel G. Wilson , District Judge. ( 7:97

- cr - 00024

- SGW

- RSB

- 7; 7:00

- cv - 00858

- SGW )

Submitted : March 28, 2013 Decided: April 2, 2013

Before NIEMEYER, KING, and KEENAN , Circuit Judges.

Dismiss ed by un published per curiam opinion

.

Fahed T. Tawalbeh , Appellant Pro Se. Anthony Paul Giorno , Assistant United States Attorney, Roanoke , Virginia , for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.2 PER CURIAM: Fahed T. Tawalbeh seeks to appeal the district court’s order dismissing his Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion filed in his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2012) proceedings. * The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealabi lity. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (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) . 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 , 5 29 U.S. at 484

– 85. We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Tawalbeh has not made the requisite showing.

* Because Tawalbeh’s Rule 60(b) motion directly attacked his conviction, it was, in essence, an unauthorized and successive 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 motion over which the district court lacked jurisdiction. United States v. Winestock , 340 F.3d 200, 206 (4th Cir. 2003).3 Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. Additionally, we construe Tawalbeh’s notice of appeal and informal brief as an application to file a second or successive § 2255 motion. Winestock , 340 F.3d at 208. In order to obtain authorization to file a successive § 2255 motion, a prisoner must assert claims based on either: (1) newly discovered evide nce, not previously discoverable by due diligence, that would be sufficient to establish by clear and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error, no reasonable factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the offense; or (2) a new rule of c onstitutional law, previously unavailable, made retroactive by the Supreme Court to cases on collateral review. 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255(h). Tawalbeh’s claims do not satisfy either of these criteria. Therefore, we deny authorization to file a successive § 225 5 motion. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional
process.

DISMISSED