Court Opinion

ID: 214795
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-04-15 19:17:08+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:21.693046
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 10-6741

AUSTIN ELMER GLADHILL, III,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

BOBBY SHEARIN, Warden; ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MARYLAND,

                Respondents – Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Baltimore.    Catherine C. Blake, District Judge.
(1:07-cv-03336-CCB)

Submitted:   March 28, 2011                 Decided:   April 15, 2011

Before KING and GREGORY, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Austin Elmer Gladhill, III, Appellant Pro Se.      Edward John
Kelley, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MARYLAND, Baltimore,
Maryland, for Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

               Austin    Elmer   Gladhill,      III,     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 Gladhill 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

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