Court Opinion

ID: 4568051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2020-09-22 22:31:21.083904+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:24.002173
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                       UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                      No. 20-6209

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                    Plaintiff - Appellee,

             v.

TAYARI RAFIKI MITCHELL,

                    Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at
Greensboro. Catherine C. Eagles, District Judge. (1:11-cr-00174-CCE-1; 1:18-cv-00331-
CCE-JLW)

Submitted: July 31, 2020                                          Decided: August 5, 2020

Before AGEE, WYNN, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Tayari Rafiki Mitchell, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

       Tayari Rafiki Mitchell seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the

recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on Mitchell’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255

(2018) motion. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a

certificate of appealability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (2018). 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) (2018). 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, 137 S. Ct. 759, 773-74 (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 motion 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 Mitchell 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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