Court Opinion

ID: 623011
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2012-02-16 20:26:25+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:03.118946
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 11-7181

KAREEM JABBAR LENZY,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

     v.

ROBERT C. LEWIS; SANDRA THOMAS,

                Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.   Louise W. Flanagan,
District Judge. (5:10-hc-02141-FL)

Submitted:   January 25, 2012             Decided:   February 16, 2012

Before KING, AGEE, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Kareem Jabbar Lenzy, Appellant Pro Se. Mary Carla Hollis,
Assistant  Attorney General,  Raleigh, North Carolina, for
Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Kareem        Jabbar     Lenzy       seeks     to    appeal       the   district

court’s    order     denying       relief    on    his   28      U.S.C.     § 2254    (2006)

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) (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 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    Lenzy    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

                                             2
before   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

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