Court Opinion

ID: 2652169
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2014-02-04 19:53:07.993783+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:10:40.940810
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 13-7455

WILLIAM EDWARDS, JR.,

                Petitioner - Appellant,

          v.

WARDEN OF GREENSVILLE CORRECTIONAL CENTER,

                Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria.     Anthony J. Trenga,
District Judge. (1:12-cv-00969-AJT-TRJ)

Submitted:   January 28, 2014             Decided:   February 4, 2014

Before GREGORY, SHEDD, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

William Edwards, Jr., Appellant Pro Se.    Eugene Paul Murphy,
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia,
for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

              William      Edwards,    Jr.,     seeks    to    appeal       the   district

court’s order dismissing as untimely his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012)

petition.      The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice

or    judge   issues      a     certificate     of   appealability.            28   U.S.C.

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

we deny leave to proceed in forma pauperis, deny Edwards’ motion

for a certificate of appealability, and dismiss the appeal.                              We

dispense      with       oral    argument     because     the        facts    and    legal

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contentions   are   adequately   presented   in   the   materials   before

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

                                                               DISMISSED

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