Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fidel Angel CHICAS-HERNANDEZ, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2011-03-18
Citations: 418 F. App'x 185
Docket Number: No. 10-7595
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fidel Angel CHICAS-HERNANDEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before MOTZ and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 418
Pages: 185–186

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Fidel Angel CHICAS-HERNANDEZ, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 10-7595.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Submitted: March 15, 2011.
Decided: March 18, 2011.
Fidel Angel Chicas-Hernandez, Appellant Pro Se. John Leslie Brownlee, Office of the United States Attorney, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before MOTZ and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Opinion:
Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Fidel Angel Chicas-Hernandez seeks to appeal the district court's order dismissing as untimely his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp.2010) motion. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) (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 motion states a debatable claim of the denial of a constitutional right. Slack, 529 U.S. at 484-85, 120 S.Ct. 1595. By failing to challenge the district court's dispositive procedural ruling in his informal brief on appeal, we conclude that Chicas-Hernandez 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 con tentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED.