Court Opinion

ID: 212921
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-03-21 20:04:00+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:13.350126
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 10-6178

BENNY DERRELL KING,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

BOBBY P. SHEARIN, N.B.C.I. Warden; DOUGLAS F. GANSLER, The
Attorney General of the State of Maryland; ATTORNEY GENERAL
OF MARYLAND,

                Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.      Alexander Williams, Jr., District
Judge. (8:09-cv-02014-AW)

Submitted:   March 2, 2011                 Decided:   March 21, 2011

Before DUNCAN, AGEE, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Benny Derrell King, Appellant Pro Se.       Edward John Kelley,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MARYLAND, Baltimore, Maryland,
for Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

              Benny      Derrell       King     seeks       to     appeal      the     district

court’s order dismissing as untimely his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2006)

petition.       The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice

or    judge   issues       a    certificate          of   appealability.             28   U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1) (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       King    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    the    court      and    argument         would    not      aid    the     decisional

process.

                                                                                      DISMISSED
                                                2