Court Opinion

ID: 808736
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2012-09-18 18:45:26+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:00:31.748759
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 12-7094

AUSTIN KERR BRAME,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

WENDELL W. PIXLEY, Warden, St. Brides Correctional Center,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Raymond A. Jackson, District
Judge. (2:11-cv-00564-RAJ-FBS)

Submitted:   September 11, 2012          Decided:   September 18, 2012

Before SHEDD, DAVIS, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Austin Kerr Brame, Appellant Pro Se.  Donald Eldridge Jeffrey,
III,   Assistant Attorney   General, Richmond,  Virginia,  for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Austin Kerr Brame seeks to appeal the district court’s

order denying as untimely his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2006) petition.

The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge

issues      a      certificate        of       appealability.           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 Brame has not made the requisite showing.                       Accordingly, we

deny a certificate of appealability, deny leave to proceed in

forma pauperis, and dismiss the appeal.                  We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

                                           2
presented in the materials before the court and argument would

not aid the decisional process.

                                                     DISMISSED

                                  3