Court Opinion

ID: 1032051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-05 18:38:47.918207+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:17.522340
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                               No. 13-6275

JASON THOMAS FREEMAN,

                       Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

BRYAN B. WATSON, Warden of Nottoway Correctional Center,

                       Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke.       Glen E. Conrad, Chief
District Judge. (7:12-cv-00168-GEC-RSB)

Submitted:     June 12, 2013                    Decided:   July 5, 2013

Before KING, WYNN, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jason Thomas Freeman, Appellant Pro Se. Gregory William
Franklin, Victoria Lee Johnson, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Jason        Thomas   Freeman       seeks   to        appeal    the    district

court’s    order    denying       relief   on    his    28    U.S.C.       § 2254       (2006)

petition.     The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice

or judge issues a certificate of appealability.                            See 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    (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 petition 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 Freeman 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

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contentions   are   adequately   presented   in   the   materials   before

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                               DISMISSED

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