Stephen Bowers v. Evelyn Seifert

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed.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]

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UNPUBLISHED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Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.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Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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Document: 10

Date Filed: 04/06/2012

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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

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Date Filed: 04/06/2012

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

3