                              UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT


                              No.  03-7728



RICHARD S. MAULICK,

                                               Petitioner - Appellant,

          versus


GENE M. JOHNSON, Director      of   the   Virginia
Department of Corrections,

                                                Respondent - Appellee. 


Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk.  Henry Coke Morgan, Jr., District
Judge. ( CA-02-772-2)


Submitted: January 29, 2004                  Decided:   February 9, 2004


Before WILKINSON, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges. 


Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. 


Richard S. Maulick, Appellant Pro Se.  Michael Thomas Judge, OFFICE
OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellee. 


Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. 
See Local Rule 36(c). 
PER CURIAM:

              Richard S. Maulick seeks to appeal the district court’s

order accepting a magistrate judge’s recommendation to deny relief

on his petition filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000).                An appeal may

not be taken from the final order in a § 2254 proceeding unless a

circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability.  28

U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) (2000).           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) (2000).          A prisoner

satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists

would find that his constitutional claims are debatable and that

any dispositive procedural rulings by the district court are also

debatable or wrong.         See 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 (4th Cir.  2001).                  We have independently

reviewed the record and conclude that Maulick 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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