Court Opinion

ID: 3218312
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-06-29 19:01:10.140611+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:39:45.730136
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 16-6522

THOMAS TALBERT,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

MARVIN PLUMLEY,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern
District of West Virginia, at Huntington.  Robert C. Chambers,
Chief District Judge. (3:14-cv-22222)

Submitted:   June 23, 2016                 Decided:   June 29, 2016

Before MOTZ, KING, and WYNN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas Talbert, Appellant Pro Se. Shannon Frederick Kiser,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, Charleston, West Virginia, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

      Thomas Talbert seeks to appeal the district court’s order

accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying

relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) petition.                            The order is

not   appealable        unless    a   circuit      justice     or    judge    issues    a

certificate      of    appealability.           See    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

Talbert has not made the requisite showing.                          Accordingly, we

deny Talbert’s motion for a certificate of appealability and

dismiss the appeal.            We dispense with oral argument because the

facts    and    legal    contentions     are      adequately        presented   in    the

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materials   before   this   court   and   argument   would   not    aid   the

decisional process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

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