Court Opinion

ID: 2676913
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-06-03 19:00:52.340795+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:33:46.563124
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 14-6146

JAMES EDWARD BRANDON, JR.,

                       Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

ERIC WILSON, Warden,

                       Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria.    Claude M. Hilton, Senior
District Judge. (1:13-cv-01324-CMH-JFA)

Submitted:   May 29, 2014                   Decided:   June 3, 2014

Before SHEDD, WYNN, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

James Edward Brandon, Jr., Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

              James     Edward      Brandon,         Jr.,     seeks       to   appeal       the

district court’s order construing his filing as a successive 28

U.S.C. § 2255 (2012) motion and dismissing it.                            The order is not

appealable      unless        a    circuit         justice     or     judge        issues     a

certificate of appealability.                28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (2012).

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    motion    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 Brandon 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

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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