US v. Garnett Smith

Filing

UNPUBLISHED PER CURIAM OPINION filed. Originating case number: 1:12-cr-00479-JKB-1,1:15-cv-02898-JKB Copies to all parties and the district court. [999838657]. Mailed to: Garnett Gilbert Smith. [16-6139]

Appeal: 16-6139

Doc: 14

Filed: 06/01/2016

Pg: 1 of 4

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 16-6139

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff – Appellee,
and
CHARLES PETERSON,
Claimant,
v.
GARNETT GILBERT SMITH, a/k/a Abdule Jones,
Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Baltimore.
James K. Bredar, District Judge.
(1:12-cr-00479-JKB-1; 1:15-cv-02898-JKB)

Submitted:

May 26, 2016

Decided:

June 1, 2016

Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and NIEMEYER and FLOYD, Circuit
Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Jeffrey Michael Brandt, ROBINSON & BRANDT, PSC, Covington,
Kentucky, for Appellant. James G. Warwick, OFFICE OF THE UNITED
STATES ATTORNEY, Baltimore, Maryland, for Appellee.

Appeal: 16-6139

Doc: 14

Filed: 06/01/2016

Pg: 2 of 4

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

2

Appeal: 16-6139

Doc: 14

Filed: 06/01/2016

Pg: 3 of 4

PER CURIAM:
Garnett Gilbert Smith seeks to appeal the district court’s
order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2012) motion.

The

order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues
a

certificate

(2012).

of

appealability.

28

U.S.C.

§ 2253(c)(1)(B)

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).
relief

on

the

demonstrating
district

merits,
that

court’s

debatable

or

a

When the district court denies

prisoner

reasonable

assessment

wrong.

satisfies

jurists

would

of

the

v.

McDaniel,

Slack

this

standard

find

U.S.

that

the

claims

constitutional
529

by

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

motion

states

claim of the denial of a constitutional right.

a

debatable

Slack, 529 U.S.

at 484-85.
We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that
Smith has not made the requisite showing.
a

certificate

dispense

with

of

appealability

oral

argument

and

dismiss

because

3

Accordingly, we deny

the

the

appeal.

facts

and

We
legal

Appeal: 16-6139

Doc: 14

contentions

are

Filed: 06/01/2016

adequately

Pg: 4 of 4

presented

in

the

materials

before

this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

DISMISSED

4