Maurice Graves v. Michael McCall

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:13-cv-02866-RMG. Copies to all parties and the district court/agency. [999680302]. Mailed to: Maurice Graves. [15-6868]

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UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-6868

MAURICE GRAVES,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
MICHAEL MCCALL,
Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Aiken. Richard Mark Gergel, District Judge.
(1:13-cv-02866-RMG)

Submitted:

October 15, 2015

Decided:

October 19, 2015

Before WILKINSON, AGEE, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Maurice Graves, Appellant Pro Se. Alphonso Simon Jr., Assistant
Attorney General, Donald John Zelenka, Senior Assistant Attorney
General, Columbia, South Carolina, for Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Maurice Graves seeks to appeal the district court’s orders
accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge, dismissing
his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) petition, and denying his motion for
reconsideration.
justice or

The orders are not appealable unless a circuit

judge

issues

a

certificate

U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) (2012).

of

appealability.

28

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

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
Graves has not made the requisite showing.
a

certificate

dispense

with

of

appealability

oral

argument

and

dismiss

because

2

Accordingly, we deny

the

the

appeal.

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