Stephen Bowers v. Evelyn Seifert

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UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 2:11-cv-00040-JPB-DJJ Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [998827516]. Mailed to: Bowers. [11-7459]

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Appeal: 11-7459 Document: 10 Date Filed: 04/06/2012 Page: 1 of 3 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 11-7459 STEPHEN P. BOWERS, Petitioner – Appellant, v. WARDEN EVELYN SEIFERT, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Elkins. John Preston Bailey, Chief District Judge. (2:11-cv-00040-JPB-DJJ) Submitted: March 26, 2012 Decided: April 6, 2012 Before MOTZ, SHEDD, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Stephen P. Bowers, Appellant Pro Se. Robert David Goldberg, Assistant Attorney General, Silas B. Taylor, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WEST VIRGINIA, Charleston, West Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. Appeal: 11-7459 Document: 10 Date Filed: 04/06/2012 Page: 2 of 3 PER CURIAM: Stephen P. Bowers 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 (2006). of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) 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). relief on the demonstrating district merits, that court’s debatable or a prisoner reasonable assessment wrong. When the district court denies satisfies jurists would of the v. McDaniel, Slack this standard find constitutional 529 U.S. by that the claims is 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 Bowers has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. dispense with oral argument because 2 the facts and We legal Appeal: 11-7459 Document: 10 Date Filed: 04/06/2012 Page: 3 of 3 contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED 3

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