Court Opinion

ID: 222235
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2011-08-01 18:44:39+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:28:53.939727
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                  UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                      FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                             No. 10-7414

WILLIAM SMOAK FAIREY, Jr., a/k/a Doak Fairey,

                      Petitioner – Appellant,

          v.

SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF       CORRECTIONS;   ATTORNEY
GENERAL, STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

                      Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Florence.     Richard Mark Gergel, District
Judge. (4:09-cv-01610-RMG)

Submitted:   July 28, 2011                 Decided:   August 1, 2011

Before SHEDD, AGEE, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

William Smoak Fairey, Appellant Pro Se. Donald John Zelenka,
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

               William    Smoak     Fairey        seeks       to    appeal         the    district

court’s    order     accepting      the      recommendation              of    the    magistrate

judge    and     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.                    28   U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1)(A) (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 Fairey has not made the requisite showing.

Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss

the appeal.        We also deny Fairey’s motion to stay state court

proceedings.        We dispense with oral argument because the facts

and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials

                                              2
before   the   court   and   argument   would   not   aid   the   decisional

process.

                                                                   DISMISSED

                                    3