Vernard Mathis v. Leroy Cartledge

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:11-cv-02383-RMG Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999000386].. [12-7578]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 12-7578

VERNARD JEROME MATHIS,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
LEROY CARTLEDGE, Warden McCormick Correctional Institution,
Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Aiken.
Richard M. Gergel, District Judge.
(1:11-cv-02383-RMG)

Submitted:

December 6, 2012

Decided:

December 12, 2012

Before MOTZ, KING, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jeremy A. Thompson, LAW OFFICE OF JEREMY A. THOMPSON, LLC,
Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellant.
Donald John Zelenka,
Deputy
Assistant
Attorney
General,
Alphonso
Simon,
Jr.,
Assistant Attorney General, Columbia, South Carolina, for
Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Vernard
court’s
judge

order
and

petition.
or

judge

Jerome

accepting

denying

the

relief

seeks

to

appeal

recommendation

on

his

28

of

U.S.C.

the

the
§

district

magistrate

2254

(2006)

The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice
issues

a

certificate

§ 2253(c)(1)(A) (2006).
issue

Mathis

absent

“a

appealability.

28

U.S.C.

A certificate of appealability will not

substantial

constitutional right.”

of

showing

of

the

denial

28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) (2006).

of

a

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

Cockrell,

(2000);

(2003).

see

Miller-El

v.

537

U.S.

322,

336-38

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 Mathis has not made the requisite showing.

Accordingly, we

deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal.
dispense

with

oral

argument

because

the

facts

and

We

legal

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contentions

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are

adequately

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presented

in

the

materials

before

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED

3