Summary
stating in an unnumbered footnote: "[T]he district court's dispositive conclusion - that our decision in []Mungro[] foreclosed [the petitioner's] argument that the Supreme Court's holding in Johnson[] invalidated his armed career criminal designation - is not debateable."
Summary of this case from Carr v. United StatesOpinion
No. 16-6106
06-28-2016
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ANTHONY VONN HARRIS, a/k/a Anthony Vonne Harris, Defendant - Appellant.
Anthony Vonn Harris, Appellant Pro Se. Clifton Thomas Barrett, Harry L. Hobgood, Angela Hewlett Miller, Assistant United States Attorneys, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee.
UNPUBLISHED Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. Thomas D. Schroeder, District Judge. (1:10-cr-00289-TDS-1; 1:13-cv-00232-TDS-JEP) Before MOTZ, KING, and WYNN, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Anthony Vonn Harris, Appellant Pro Se. Clifton Thomas Barrett, Harry L. Hobgood, Angela Hewlett Miller, Assistant United States Attorneys, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM:
Anthony Vonn Harris seeks to appeal the district court's order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and 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 of appealability. 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (2012). 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 (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 Harris has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny 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 this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
Specifically, the district court's dispositive conclusion — that our decision in United States v. Mungro, 754 F.3d 267 (4th Cir. 2014), foreclosed Harris' argument that the Supreme Court's holding in Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015), invalidated his armed career criminal designation — is not debatable. --------
DISMISSED