Opinion
19-6777
06-28-2022
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. ITHAMAR RENEE SOUTHERN, Defendant-Appellant.
Ithamar Renee Southern, Appellant Pro Se.
UNPUBLISHED
Submitted: May 27, 2022
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Terry L. Wooten, Senior District Judge. (4:05-cr-00770-TLW-2; 4:16-cv-01821-TLW)
Ithamar Renee Southern, Appellant Pro Se.
Before NIEMEYER and RUSHING, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD, Senior Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Ithamar Renee Southern seeks to appeal the district court's order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. See 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). 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 Southern has not made the requisite showing.[*] Accordingly, we deny Southern'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 this court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED.
[*] To the extent Southern seeks compassionate release pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), such a motion must be filed in the district court in the first instance.