Case Name: Roger Lee HARPER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. David BALLARD, Warden, Mount Olive Correctional Complex, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2015-11-17
Citations: 622 F. App'x 245
Docket Number: No. 15-6704
Parties: Roger Lee HARPER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. David BALLARD, Warden, Mount Olive Correctional Complex, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: Before NIEMEYER, MOTZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 622
Pages: 245–245

Head Matter:
Roger Lee HARPER, Petitioner-Appellant, v. David BALLARD, Warden, Mount Olive Correctional Complex, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 15-6704.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Submitted: Sept. 16, 2015.
Decided: Nov. 17, 2015.
Roger Lee Harper, Appellant Pro Se. Shannon Frederick' Kiser, Laura Young, Office of the Attorney General of West Virginia, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee.
Before NIEMEYER, MOTZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Roger Lee Harper 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 (2012) petition. The order is not appeal-able unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) (2012). A certificate of ap-pealability 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 Harper 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 this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED.'