Court Opinion

ID: 205761
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-03-01 19:30:19+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:27:49.351925
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 10-6057

OMAR CASSIMER RICHARDS,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

GEORGE M. HINKLE, Warden, Greensville Corr. Center,

                Respondent – Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria.     Anthony J. Trenga,
District Judge. (1:09-cv-00432-AJT-TRJ)

Submitted:   February 10, 2011            Decided:    March 1, 2011

Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Omar Cassimer Richards, Appellant Pro Se.   Eugene Paul Murphy,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia,
for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Omar Cassimer Richards 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) (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 Richards 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

                                           2
before   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

                                    3