Court Opinion

ID: 2645007
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-12-05 20:15:35.569832+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:02:45.841821
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 13-7052

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                Plaintiff – Appellee,

          v.

JOSE PINEDA-GOMEZ,

                Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Charleston.    Richard Mark Gergel, District
Judge. (2:10-cr-01104-RMG-7; 2:13-cv-00341-RMG)

Submitted:   November 20, 2013            Decided:   December 5, 2013

Before AGEE, DAVIS, and FLOYD, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jose Pineda-Gomez, Appellant Pro Se. Peter Thomas Phillips,
Stanley   D.  Ragsdale,   Assistant   United States Attorneys,
Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

            Jose Pineda-Gomez seeks to appeal the district court’s

order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2013)

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) (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 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     Pineda-Gomez        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

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before   this   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                    DISMISSED

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