Court Opinion

ID: 2670685
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-04-21 19:23:27.87046+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:16.515129
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 13-7888

JUAN CABRERA-FLORES,

                       Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

ENNIS OATES,

                       Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of North Carolina, at Raleigh.   Terrence W. Boyle,
District Judge. (5:12-hc-02175-BO)

Submitted:   April 17, 2014                 Decided:   April 21, 2014

Before WILKINSON, KING, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Juan Cabrera-Flores, Appellant Pro Se. Clarence Joe DelForge,
III, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North
Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Juan     Cabrera-Flores           seeks      to    appeal       the   district

court’s orders denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012)

petition     and     denying     his        Fed.    R.   Civ.       P.    60(b)     motion.

Cabrera-Flores may not appeal 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     Cabrera-Flores        has     not        made   the       requisite      showing.

Accordingly, we deny Cabrera-Flores’ motion to appoint counsel,

deny a certificate of appealability, deny leave to proceed in

forma pauperis, and dismiss the appeal.                       We dispense with oral

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argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

presented in the materials before this court and argument would

not aid the decisional process.

                                                      DISMISSED

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