Court Opinion

ID: 213821
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-04-01 19:50:26+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:17.442757
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 10-6997

THOMAS DAVIS, a/k/a Thomas Edwards,

                Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MARYLAND; BOBBY SHEARIN, Warden,

                Respondents – Appellees,

          and

JOHN ROWLEY,

                Respondent.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Greenbelt.      Alexander Williams, Jr., District
Judge. (8:08-cv-03453-AW)

Submitted:   March 28, 2011                 Decided:   April 1, 2011

Before WILKINSON, AGEE, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Thomas Davis, 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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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:

               Thomas     Davis    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) (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     Davis    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   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

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