Court Opinion

ID: 621022
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2012-01-17 21:08:52+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:50:54.746687
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                        FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 10-7721

JEFFREY CORPORAL,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

PHILIP MORGAN, Warden; ATTORNEY GENERAL,

                Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.    Deborah K. Chasanow, Chief District
Judge. (8:09-cv-03454-DKC)

Submitted:   September 1, 2011             Decided:   January 17, 2012

Before KING, GREGORY, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jeffrey Corporal, 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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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:

               Jeffrey Corporal 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)(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 Corporal has not made the requisite showing.

Accordingly,       we     deny    Corporal’s       motion   for    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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