Ronald Coulter v. Robert Stevenson

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 0:08-cv-02762-PMD Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998399433] [09-7849]

Case: 09-7849

Document: 9

Date Filed: 08/10/2010

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UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 09-7849 RONALD COULTER, Petitioner - Appellant, v. ROBERT M. STEVENSON, Warden, BRCI, Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Rock Hill. Patrick Michael Duffy, District Judge. (0:08-cv-02762-PMD) Submitted: July 19, 2010 GREGORY, Decided: Circuit Judges, August 10, 2010 and HAMILTON,

Before WILKINSON and Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Ronald Coulter, Appellant Pro se. Donald John Zelenka, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

Case: 09-7849

Document: 9

Date Filed: 08/10/2010

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PER CURIAM: Ronald Coulter seeks to appeal the district court's order 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. See 28 U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1) (2006). issue absent "a

A certificate of appealability will not showing of the denial of a

substantial

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. 484 (2000); see Miller-El v. Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 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. 529 U.S. at 484-85. Slack,

We have independently reviewed the record

and conclude that Coulter has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability, deny leave to proceed in forma oral pauperis, argument and dismiss the the appeal. and We legal

dispense

with

because

facts

2

Case: 09-7849

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Date Filed: 08/10/2010

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contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED

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