Court Opinion

ID: 1018252
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 22:17:22.643626+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:44:01.486570
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 05-7233

THOMAS WILLIAM BROWN,

                                             Petitioner - Appellant,

          versus

H. R. POWELL, Warden,

                                              Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Claude M. Hilton, District
Judge. (CA-04-195-1)

Submitted:   December 21, 2005            Decided:   January 18, 2006

Before WILKINSON, TRAXLER, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas William Brown, Appellant Pro Se. Stephen R. McCullough,
Assistant Attorney General, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:

              Thomas William Brown, a state prisoner, seeks to appeal

the district court’s order denying relief on his petition filed

under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000).          The order is not appealable unless

a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability.

28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) (2000). 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) (2000).           A prisoner

satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists

would find that his constitutional claims are debatable and that

any dispositive procedural rulings by the district court are also

debatable or wrong.         See Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336

(2003); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); Rose v. Lee,

252 F.3d 676, 683 (4th Cir. 2001).             We have independently reviewed

the record and conclude that Brown has not made the requisite

showing.      Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and

dismiss    the    appeal.       We    further    deny     Brown’s    request       for

appointment of counsel. 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

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