Court Opinion

ID: 4413891
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2019-07-03 19:00:19.638985+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:49:13.932401
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                       UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                           FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                       No. 19-6002

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                     Plaintiff - Appellee,

              v.

CHRISTOPHER CIAMPA,

                     Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at
Raleigh. Louise W. Flanagan, District Judge. (5:14-cr-00197-FL-1; 5:16-cv-00850-FL)

Submitted: June 7, 2019                                             Decided: July 3, 2019

Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and WYNN and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas Reston Wilson, GREENE & WILSON, PA, New Bern, North Carolina, for
Appellant.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

       Christopher Ciampa seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the

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

§ 2255 (2012) 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) (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

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 Ciampa 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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