Court Opinion

ID: 4157854
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2017-04-04 19:01:50.387205+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:42.856033
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 16-7579

GREGORY LEON HAMMER,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

SHERIFF BRYAN HUTCHESON,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke.     Jackson L. Kiser, Senior
District Judge. (7:16-cv-00499-JLK-RSB)

Submitted:   March 30, 2017                 Decided:   April 4, 2017

Before TRAXLER and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Gregory Leon Hammer, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

       Gregory Leon Hammer, a state prisoner, seeks to appeal the

district court’s order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2241

(2012) petition.           The order is not appealable unless a circuit

justice    or    judge     issues    a    certificate       of   appealability.       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

Hammer has not made the requisite showing.                       Accordingly, we deny

a certificate of appealability, deny leave to proceed in forma

pauperis,       and   dismiss       the    appeal.         We    dispense    with   oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

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presented in the materials before this court and argument would

not aid the decisional process.

                                                      DISMISSED

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