US v. Lester Johnson, No. 13-6435 (4th Cir. 2013)
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UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 13-6435 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. LESTER JOHNSON, a/k/a Main, Defendant - Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia. Joseph F. Anderson, Jr., District Judge. (3:95-cr-00488-JFA-10; 3:12-cv-01510-JFA) Submitted: May 23, 2013 Before MOTZ * and Circuit Judge. AGEE, Decided: Circuit Judges, and May 29, 2013 HAMILTON, Senior Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Lester Johnson, Appellant Pro Se. Sean Kittrell, Assistant United States Attorney, Charleston, South Carolina; Jane Barrett Taylor, Assistant United States Attorney, Columbia, South * Judge Motz did not participate in consideration of this case. The opinion is filed by a quorum of the panel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 46(d). Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. 2 PER CURIAM: Lester Johnson seeks to appeal the district court s order dismissing as untimely his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2012) motion. justice or The order is not appealable unless a circuit judge issues a certificate U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (2006). 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) (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 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 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 Johnson has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument 3 because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED 4
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