Court Opinion

ID: 220299
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-07-05 19:34:24+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:44.549045
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                        FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 10-7492

REYES CABRERA,

                  Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

MICHAEL MCCALL,

                  Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Aiken.     Terry L. Wooten, District Judge.
(1:09-cv-02801-TLW)

Submitted:   June 30, 2011                   Decided:   July 5, 2011

Before WILKINSON, DUNCAN, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Reyes Cabrera, 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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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:

               Reyes       Cabrera    seeks    to    appeal      the     district    court’s

order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and

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.              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    Cabrera       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

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before   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

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