Court Opinion

ID: 1013280
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 20:58:41.138357+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:39:36.658739
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                              No. 03-6694

NOLIE DEAL SAMPSON,

                                               Petitioner - Appellant,

          versus

GENE M. JOHNSON, Director      of   the   Virginia
Department of Corrections,

                                                Respondent - Appellee.

                              No. 03-7545

NOLIE DEAL SAMPSON,

                                               Petitioner - Appellant,

          versus

GENE M. JOHNSON, Director      of   the   Virginia
Department of Corrections,

                                                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Henry Coke Morgan, Jr., District
Judge. (CA-02-401-2)

Submitted:   March 29, 2004                     Decided:   May 21, 2004
Before MOTZ, TRAXLER, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Nolie Deal Sampson, Appellant Pro Se.       Richard Carson Vorhis,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

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PER CURIAM:

            Nolie Deal Sampson seeks to appeal the district court’s

order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and

denying relief on his petition filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000)

and denying his Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for reconsideration.

An appeal may not be taken from the final order in a § 2254

proceeding 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 Sampson has not made the

requisite   showing.        Accordingly,    we    deny   a    certificate   of

appealability and dismiss the appeals.              Sampson’s motions to

supplement the record and to remand are denied.              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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