Court Opinion

ID: 9458744
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:00:31.080692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:39.235182
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-7445      Doc: 8        Filed: 08/03/2023     Pg: 1 of 2

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 22-7445

        RAHEEM CHABEZZ JOHNSON,

                            Petitioner - Appellant,

                     v.

        JEFFREY KISER, Warden, Red Onion State Prison,

                            Respondent - Appellee.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at
        Roanoke. James P. Jones, Senior District Judge. (7:19-cv-00488-JPJ-PMS)

        Submitted: July 26, 2023                                          Decided: August 3, 2023

        Before NIEMEYER, WYNN, and QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judges.

        Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        Matthew Engle, DONOVAN & ENGLE, PLLC, Charlottesville, Virginia, for Appellant.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 22-7445         Doc: 8      Filed: 08/03/2023     Pg: 2 of 2

        PER CURIAM:

               Raheem Chabezz Johnson seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying relief

        on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 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). 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 the district court denies relief on the merits, a

        prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists could find the

        district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong. See Buck v.

        Davis, 580 U.S. 100, 115-17 (2017). 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. 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 Johnson 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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