Court Opinion

ID: 2671884
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-05-01 00:01:09.503089+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:49.009298
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                        FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 13-6454

WALTER D. BOOKER,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

HAROLD W. CLARKE, Director of VA DOC,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. James C. Cacheris, Senior
District Judge. (1:12-cv-01478-JCC-TRJ)

Submitted:   April 24, 2014                 Decided:   April 30, 2014

Before MOTZ, SHEDD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Walter D. Booker, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

               Walter D. Booker seeks to appeal the district court’s

order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) 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) (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 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 Booker has not made the requisite showing.                       Accordingly, we

deny the motion for a certificate of appealability and dismiss

the     appeal     because     the    facts      and    legal     contentions         are

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adequately   presented   in   the   materials   before   the   court   and

argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                               DISMISSED

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