Court Opinion

ID: 1015700
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 21:37:15.225032+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:23.649256
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 04-7551

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                               Plaintiff - Appellee,

          versus

ROBERTO SORTO,

                                            Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. James C. Cacheris, Senior
District Judge. (CR-96-251-A; CA-03-507-A)

Submitted:   February 18, 2005            Decided:    March 16, 2005

Before NIEMEYER, MICHAEL, and KING, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Roberto Sorto, Appellant Pro Se. Rebeca Hidalgo Bellows, Assistant
United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:

              Roberto   Sorto    seeks      to    appeal      the   district     court’s

amended order dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2000) motion as

successive.      The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice

or   judge    issues    a   certificate      of     appealability.          28    U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1) (2000). 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) (2000).             A prisoner satisfies this

standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that

his constitutional claims are debatable and that any dispositive

procedural rulings by the district court are also debatable or

wrong.    See Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336 (2003); Slack

v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); Rose v. Lee, 252 F.3d 676,

683 (4th Cir. 2001). We have independently reviewed the record and

conclude      that   Sorto      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 the

court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                                            DISMISSED

                                       - 2 -