Court Opinion

ID: 2788073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-03-20 19:00:56.666835+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:04:06.028122
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 14-7683

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                Plaintiff - Appellee,

          v.

RONALD DEMETRIOUS THOMAS,

                Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt. Roger W. Titus, Senior District Judge.
(8:06-cr-00405-RWT-1; 8:11-cv-01049-RWT)

Submitted:   March 17, 2015                 Decided:   March 20, 2015

Before WILKINSON and KING, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Ronald Demetrious Thomas, Appellant Pro Se.       Arun G. Rao,
Barbara Suzanne Skalla, Assistant United States Attorneys, Paul
Nitze, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenbelt,
Maryland, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

       Ronald    Demetrious       Thomas       seeks    to    appeal       the    district

court’s    order     denying     relief    on    his    28    U.S.C.      § 2255    (2012)

motion.    The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or

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

§ 2253(c)(1)(B) (2012).           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) (2012).                   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 motion 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

Thomas 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

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contentions   are   adequately   presented   in   the   materials   before

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                               DISMISSED

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