Court Opinion

ID: 622292
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2012-02-06 20:22:16+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:34:36.677732
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 11-7042

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                Plaintiff – Appellee,

          v.

LARRY THOMAS,

                Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.     Louise W. Flanagan,
District Judge. (5:07-cr-00044-FL-3; 5:09-cv-00299-FL)

Submitted:   January 10, 2012              Decided:   February 6, 2012

Before DIAZ and    FLOYD,   Circuit   Judges,   and   HAMILTON,   Senior
Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Larry Thomas, Appellant Pro Se. Barbara Dickerson Kocher,
Assistant United States Attorney, Seth Morgan Wood, OFFICE OF
THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Larry        Thomas      seeks     to    appeal       the    district      court’s

order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and

denying    relief        on    his   28   U.S.C.A.         §    2255    (West   Supp.    2011)

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) (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 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 contentions are adequately presented in the materials

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before   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

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