Court Opinion

ID: 2820935
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-07-28 19:02:10.502537+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:52:11.449927
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 15-6356

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                Plaintiff - Appellee,

          v.

DARRELL ANTHONY CUNNINGHAM, a/k/a DC,

                Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Greenville. Timothy M. Cain, District Judge.
(6:13-cr-00013-TMC-2; 6:14-cv-03539-TMC)

Submitted:   July 15, 2015                 Decided:   July 28, 2015

Before WILKINSON, NIEMEYER, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Darrell Anthony Cunningham, Appellant Pro Se.           Maxwell B.
Cauthen, III, Assistant United States Attorney,         Greenville,
South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:

       Darrell     Anthony     Cunningham        seeks    to       appeal    the    district

court’s    order     denying    relief     on     his    28    U.S.C.       § 2255    (2012)

motion.    The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or

judge     issues     a    certificate       of     appealability.              28     U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1)(B) (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    (2000);     see    Miller-El   v.    Cockrell,          537    U.S.    322,    336-38

(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.

       We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that

Cunningham has not made the requisite showing.                             Accordingly, we

deny Cunningham’s motion for a certificate of appealability and

dismiss the appeal.          We dispense with oral argument because the

facts    and    legal     contentions      are    adequately          presented      in    the

                                            2
materials   before   this   court   and   argument   would   not    aid   the

decisional process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

                                    3