Case Name: Jackie Ray CEARLEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Frank PERRY, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2015-03-31
Citations: 599 F. App'x 59
Docket Number: No. 14-7433
Parties: Jackie Ray CEARLEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Frank PERRY, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: Before GREGORY, SHEDD, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 599
Pages: 59–60

Head Matter:
Jackie Ray CEARLEY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Frank PERRY, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 14-7433.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Submitted: Feb. 24, 2015.
Decided: March 31, 2015.
Jackie Ray Cearley, Appellant Pro Se.
Mary Carla Babb, Assistant Attorney General, Clarence Joe DelForge, III, North Carolina Department of Justice, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
Before GREGORY, SHEDD, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Jackie Ray Cearley seeks to appeal the district court's order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) petition. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appeal-ability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2258(c)(1)(A) (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, 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 Cearley has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny leave to proceed in formal pau-peris, 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 this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED.