Court Opinion

ID: 856424
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-03-27 19:15:59.0528+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:02:33.510740
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 12-7642

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                Plaintiff – Appellee,

          v.

HECTOR RUBEN MCGURK, a/k/a Ruben, a/k/a El Mechanico,

                Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of North Carolina, at Charlotte.     Frank D. Whitney,
District Judge. (3:02-cr-00190-FDW-1; 3:09-cv-00312-FDW)

Submitted:   February 8, 2013             Decided:   March 27, 2013

Before DUNCAN, AGEE, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Hector Ruben McGurk, Appellant Pro Se. Adam Christopher Morris,
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Charlotte, North Carolina;
Amy Elizabeth Ray, Assistant United States Attorney, Asheville,
North Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Hector      Ruben   McGurk        seeks    to    appeal     the    district

court’s order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West

Supp.    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)         (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 McGurk 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

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                               DISMISSED

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