Court Opinion

ID: 4157858
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2017-04-04 19:01:53.865044+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:23:47.699561
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                        FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 17-6027

DONNA J. HOCKMAN,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

PHYLLIS BASKERVILLE,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Virginia, at Roanoke. Michael F. Urbanski, District
Judge. (7:13-cv-00240-MFU-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Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Donna J. Hockman, Appellant Pro Se.         Virginia Bidwell Theisen,
Senior Assistant Attorney General,          Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

       Donna J. Hockman seeks to appeal the district court’s order

denying her Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for reconsideration of

the    district    court’s     order    denying        relief    on   her   28    U.S.C.

§ 2254 (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); Reid v. Angelone, 369 F.3d

363, 369 (4th Cir. 2004).              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

Hockman 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

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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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