598 F. App'x 214

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Ronald Demetrious THOMAS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 14-7683.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Submitted: March 17, 2015.

Decided: March 20, 2015.

Ronald Demetrious Thomas, Appellant Pro Se. Arun G. Rao, Barbara Suzanne Skalla, Assistant United States Attorneys, Paul Nitze, Office of the United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appel-lee.

Before WILKINSON and KING, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM:

Ronald Demetrious Thomas seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2012) motion. *215The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of ap-pealability. 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, 120 S.Ct. 1595, 146 L.Ed.2d 542 (2000); see Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, 336-38, 123 S.Ct. 1029, 154 L.Ed.2d 931 (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, 120 S.Ct. 1595.

We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Thomas has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED.

United States v. Thomas
598 F. App'x 214

Case Details

Name
United States v. Thomas
Decision Date
Mar 20, 2015
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598 F. App'x 214

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United States

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