Court Opinion

ID: 4461229
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2019-12-04 20:00:22.017883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:24:53.384270
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                       UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                      No. 19-6625

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                    Plaintiff - Appellee,

             v.

THOMAS MARSHALL BYRD,

                    Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at
Greensboro. William L. Osteen, Jr., District Judge. (1:11-cr-00203-WO-1; 1:15-cv-
01028-WO-LPA)

Submitted: November 19, 2019                                 Decided: December 4, 2019

Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and NIEMEYER and MOTZ, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas Marshall Byrd, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

       Thomas Marshall Byrd seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the

recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on Byrd’s 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 Byrd has not made

the requisite showing.     Accordingly, we deny Byrd’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 materials before this court and

argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                                DISMISSED

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