Case Name: Stephen P. BOWERS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Warden Evelyn SEIFERT, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2012-04-06
Citations: 471 F. App'x 123
Docket Number: No. 11-7459
Parties: Stephen P. BOWERS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Warden Evelyn SEIFERT, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 471
Pages: 123–123

Head Matter:
Stephen P. BOWERS, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Warden Evelyn SEIFERT, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 11-7459.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Submitted: March 26, 2012.
Decided: April 6, 2012.
Stephen P. Bowers, Appellant Pro Se. Robert David Goldberg, Assistant Attorney General, Silas B. Taylor, Office of the Attorney General of West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee.
Before MOTZ, SHEDD, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
Stephen P. Bowers 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 appeal-able unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2258(c)(1)(A) (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, 120 S.Ct. 1595, 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000); see Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (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 petition states a debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack, 529 U.S. at 484-85, 120 S.Ct. 1595.
We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Bowers 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.