Court Opinion

ID: 9778357
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:01:07.20438+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:07.679529
License: Public Domain

USCA4 Appeal: 22-7220      Doc: 9        Filed: 08/28/2023     Pg: 1 of 2

                                            UNPUBLISHED

                               UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                                   FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                                              No. 22-7220

        ALFONZO HOWARD,

                            Petitioner - Appellant,

                     v.

        MICHAEL STEPHAN,

                            Respondent - Appellee.

        Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Aiken.
        Richard Mark Gergel, District Judge. (1:21-cv-03356-RMG)

        Submitted: August 24, 2023                                        Decided: August 28, 2023

        Before QUATTLEBAUM and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges, and MOTZ, Senior Circuit
        Judge.

        Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

        Alfonzo Howard, Appellant Pro Se.

        Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 22-7220         Doc: 9      Filed: 08/28/2023     Pg: 2 of 2

        PER CURIAM:

               Alfonzo Howard seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the magistrate

        judge’s recommendation and dismissing as untimely Howard’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition

        and the court’s order denying Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) relief. * See Gonzalez v. Thaler, 565

        U.S. 134, 148 & n.9 (2012) (explaining that § 2254 petitions are subject to one-year statute

        of limitations, running from latest of four commencement dates enumerated in 28 U.S.C.

        § 2244(d)(1)). The orders are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a

        certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A). 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). When, as here, 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. Gonzalez, 565

        U.S. at 140-41 (citing Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000)).

               We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Howard 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 before this court and argument would not aid the

        decisional process.

                                                                                       DISMISSED

               *
                 Although Howard asserts on appeal that he did not consent to the jurisdiction of a
        magistrate judge, see 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), the district court properly referred Howard’s
        petition under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) for proposed findings and recommendations.

                                                     2