Court Opinion

ID: 174365
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2010-08-30 20:00:38+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:25:30.147425
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                               No. 10-6565

GARY LEGRANDE WISE, a/k/a Gary L. Wise,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

WARDEN, TURBEVILLE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION,

                Respondent – Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Greenville. Henry F. Floyd, District Judge.
(6:09-cv-01361-HFF)

Submitted:   August 19, 2010                 Decided:   August 30, 2010

Before MOTZ, GREGORY, and AGEE, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Gary Legrande Wise, Appellant Pro Se.      Donald John Zelenka,
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Gary    Legrande       Wise     seeks      to     appeal       the    district

court’s order adopting the magistrate judge’s recommendation to

grant    Respondent’s      summary       judgment      motion      on   his      28   U.S.C.

§ 2254    (2006)    petition,        and    denying         him    a    certificate      of

appealability.          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    Wise    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