Case Name: Staffon RAY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. WARDEN OF STEVENSON CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, Respondent-Appellee
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2013-08-26
Citations: 538 F. App'x 322
Docket Number: No. 13-6341
Parties: Staffon RAY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. WARDEN OF STEVENSON CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, Respondent-Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 538
Pages: 322–323

Head Matter:
Staffon RAY, Petitioner-Appellant, v. WARDEN OF STEVENSON CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, Respondent-Appellee.
No. 13-6341.
United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
Submitted: July 29, 2013.
Decided: Aug. 26, 2013.
Staffon Ray, Appellant Pro Se. Brendan McDonald, Office of the Attorney General of South Carolina, Donald John Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.
Before NIEMEYER, KEENAN, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
Staffon Ray seeks to appeal the district court's orders accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2006) petition and denying his motion to reconsider. The orders are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(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 Ray 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.