Court Opinion

ID: 2737495
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-09-26 19:01:03.528195+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:03:48.860687
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 14-6852

SHAWN ODELL BLAKE,

                        Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

BRAD PERRITT,

                        Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.   Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (5:13-hc-02262-BO)

Submitted:   September 23, 2014         Decided:   September 26, 2014

Before NIEMEYER and      GREGORY,   Circuit   Judges,   and   HAMILTON,
Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Shawn Odell Blake, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

              Shawn Odell Blake seeks to appeal the district court’s

orders   dismissing         as   untimely       his    28   U.S.C.      §   2254   (2012)

petition and denying his motion for reconsideration.                           The orders

are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a

certificate of appealability.              28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) (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 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 Blake has not made the requisite showing.                          Accordingly, we

deny a certificate of appealability, deny leave to proceed in

forma pauperis, and dismiss the appeal.                     We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

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presented in the materials before this court and argument would

not aid the decisional process.

                                                      DISMISSED

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