Court Opinion

ID: 2745217
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-10-23 19:03:08.035359+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:12:20.951980
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 14-6817

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                Plaintiff – Appellee,

          v.

GARLAND ELLISON,

                Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at New Bern.   James C. Fox, Senior
District Judge. (4:08-cr-00062-F-1; 4:12-cv-00002-F)

Submitted:   October 20, 2014             Decided:   October 23, 2014

Before KING, SHEDD, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Garland Ellison, Appellant Pro Se. Jennifer P. May-Parker,
Assistant United States Attorney, Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

               Garland Ellison seeks to appeal the district court’s

order denying relief on his 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 Ellison 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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