Court Opinion

ID: 873158
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-05-30 00:00:40.122523+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:01.071648
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 13-6144

ROMMELL RIGGINS,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

JOHN WOLFE,    Warden;   ATTORNEY     GENERAL    FOR    THE   STATE   OF
MARYLAND,

                Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.     Peter J. Messitte, Senior District
Judge. (8:12-cv-00930-PJM)

Submitted:   May 23, 2013                         Decided:     May 29, 2013

Before MOTZ and     AGEE,   Circuit    Judges,    and    HAMILTON,    Senior
Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Rommell A. Riggins, Appellant Pro Se.       Edward John Kelley,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MARYLAND, Baltimore, Maryland,
for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

               Rommell Riggins seeks to appeal the district court’s

order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2006) petition.

The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge

issues     a     certificate     of    appealability.            See    28     U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1)(A) (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 Riggins has not made the requisite showing.                       Accordingly,

we deny a certificate of appealability, deny Riggins’ motion to

appoint counsel, and dismiss the appeal.                 We dispense with oral

argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately

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presented in the materials before this court and argument would

not aid the decisional process.

                                                      DISMISSED

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