Court Opinion

ID: 1018385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2013-07-04 22:19:23.761555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:38:04.163166
License: Public Domain

UNPUBLISHED

                   UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                       FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

                            No. 05-7077

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                                               Plaintiff - Appellee,

          versus

CASHMERE CAZEAU,

                                              Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Henry Coke Morgan, Jr., Senior
District Judge. (CR-93-131)

Submitted:   January 26, 2006             Decided:   February 1, 2006

Before LUTTIG, WILLIAMS, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Cashmere Cazeau, Appellant Pro Se.       Kevin Michael Comstock,
Assistant United States Attorney, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.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

           Cashmere Cazeau seeks to appeal the district court’s

order denying relief on his Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion, which the

district court properly construed as a successive 28 U.S.C. § 2255

(2000) motion.       An appeal may not be taken from the final order in

a § 2255 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 the district

court’s assessment of his constitutional claims is 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 Cazeau has not made the

requisite showing.

           Additionally, we construe Cazeau’s notice of appeal and

informal brief on appeal as an application to file a second or

successive § 2255 motion. See United States v. Winestock, 340 F.3d

200, 208 (4th Cir. 2003).         In order to obtain authorization to file

a successive § 2255 motion, a prisoner must assert claims based on

either:   (1)    a    new   rule    of    constitutional    law,    previously

                                      - 2 -
unavailable, made retroactive by the Supreme Court to cases on

collateral review; or (2) newly discovered evidence sufficient to

establish that no reasonable fact finder would have found the

movant guilty.   28 U.S.C. §§ 2244(b)(3)(C), 2255 (2000).    Cazeau’s

claim does not satisfy either of these conditions.

          For    these   reasons,   we   deny     a   certificate   of

appealability, decline to authorize Cazeau to file a successive

§ 2255 motion, and dismiss the appeal.          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

                               - 3 -