Court Opinion

ID: 1016882
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 21:56:14.357502+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:15.703744
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 05-6294

R. J. KEYSTONE, a/k/a Randall J. Keyes,

                                              Petitioner - Appellant,

          versus

D. A. BRAXTON, Warden,

                                               Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke. James C. Turk, Senior District
Judge. (CA-04-189-7)

Submitted:   August 3, 2005                 Decided:   August 18, 2005

Before WILKINSON, LUTTIG, and SHEDD, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

R. J. Keystone, Appellant Pro Se. Steven Andrew Witmer, OFFICE OF
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

             R. J. Keystone, a.k.a. Randall J. Keyes, a Virginia

prisoner, seeks to appeal the district court’s order granting the

Commonwealth’s motion to dismiss and denying relief on his petition

filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000).            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 Keystone 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

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