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United States v. Constance

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Jul 23, 2020
No. 19-7173 (4th Cir. Jul. 23, 2020)

Opinion

No. 19-7173

07-23-2020

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MATTHEW IVAN CONSTANCE, Defendant - Appellant.

Matthew Ivan Constance, Appellant Pro Se. Leesa Washington, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee.


UNPUBLISHED

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Spartanburg. Henry M. Herlong, Jr., Senior District Judge. (7:18-cr-00037-HMH-1; 7:19-cv-01235-HMH) Before AGEE, DIAZ, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Matthew Ivan Constance, Appellant Pro Se. Leesa Washington, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM:

Matthew Ivan Constance seeks to appeal the district court's orders denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 (2018) motion and denying his Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) motion to alter or amend the judgment. The orders are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (2018). 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) (2018). When the district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists could find the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong. See Buck v. Davis, 137 S. Ct. 759, 773-74 (2017). 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. Gonzalez v. Thaler, 565 U.S. 134, 140-41 (2012) (citing Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000)).

We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Constance 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.

DISMISSED


Summaries of

United States v. Constance

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Jul 23, 2020
No. 19-7173 (4th Cir. Jul. 23, 2020)
Case details for

United States v. Constance

Case Details

Full title:UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. MATTHEW IVAN CONSTANCE…

Court:UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

Date published: Jul 23, 2020

Citations

No. 19-7173 (4th Cir. Jul. 23, 2020)