Court Opinion

ID: 9785022
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 21:01:05.31835+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:03.572781
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 23-6307      Doc: 11         Filed: 08/29/2023    Pg: 1 of 2

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 23-6307

        RICHIE LEO WILLIAMS,

                            Petitioner - Appellant,

                     v.

        COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,

                            Respondent - Appellee.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
        Alexandria. Claude M. Hilton, Senior District Judge. (1:23-cv-00232-CMH-JFA)

        Submitted: August 24, 2023                                        Decided: August 29, 2023

        Before QUATTLEBAUM and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit
        Judge.

        Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        Richard Leo Williams, Appellant Pro Se.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 23-6307         Doc: 11      Filed: 08/29/2023      Pg: 2 of 2

        PER CURIAM:

               Richie Leo Williams seeks to appeal the district court’s order construing his motion

        to vacate his Virginia criminal judgment as a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition and dismissing it

        as successive and unauthorized. 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). 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). When, as here, 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. Gonzalez v. Thaler, 565 U.S. 134, 140-41 (2012) (citing Slack v. McDaniel, 529

        U.S. 473, 484 (2000)).

               We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Williams 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 before this court and argument would not aid the

        decisional process.

                                                                                       DISMISSED

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