Opinion
No. 13-6797
2013-10-02
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. BOBBY WAYNE WILKINS, Defendant - Appellant.
Bobby Wayne Wilkins, Appellant Pro Se. Ethan A. Ontjes, Assistant United States Attorney, Seth Morgan Wood, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee.
UNPUBLISHED
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, at Wilmington. James C. Dever III, Chief District Judge. (7:09-cr-00058-D-1; 7:11-cv-00139-D) Before GREGORY, AGEE, and KEENAN, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Bobby Wayne Wilkins, Appellant Pro Se. Ethan A. Ontjes, Assistant United States Attorney, Seth Morgan Wood, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM:
Bobby Wayne Wilkins seeks to appeal the district court's orders denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West Supp. 2013) motion and denying his Fed. R. Civ. P. 59(e) motion. The district court's orders are 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." 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 (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 Wilkins 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