US v. Kenneth Hunter, (4th Cir. 2011)

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UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 11-6645

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

KENNETH RAY HUNTER,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern

District of West Virginia, at Elkins. John Preston Bailey,

Chief District Judge. (2:05-cr-00049-JPB-JES-1; 2:10-cv-00002-

JPB-JES)

Submitted: August 18, 2011 Decided: August 23, 2011

Before WILKINSON, DAVIS, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Kenneth Ray Hunter, Appellant Pro Se. Stephen Donald Warner,

Assistant United States Attorney, Elkins, West Virginia, for

Appellee.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM: Kenneth Ray Hunter seeks to appeal the district court's order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on his 28U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp.

2011) motion. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (2006). A certificate of appealability will not issue absent "a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right." 28U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) (2006). 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 (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 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 Hunter has not made the requisite showing.

Accordingly, we deny Hunter's motion for a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.