Court Opinion

ID: 812245
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2012-11-20 19:47:02+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:00:44.208063
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 12-7061

GARY BUTERRA WILLIAMS,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

WILLIAM C. SMITH, Superintendent,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Richmond.  Henry E. Hudson, District
Judge. (3:11-cv-00536-HEH)

Submitted:   October 31, 2012             Decided:   November 20, 2012

Before SHEDD, DAVIS, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Gary Buterra Williams, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Gary    Buterra      Williams,       a     state    prisoner,       seeks      to

appeal    the    district   court’s     orders         denying       relief    on    his   28

U.S.C.A. § 2241 (West 2006 & Supp. 2012) petition and denying

reconsideration.         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 Williams 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 the

court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                           DISMISSED

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