Clifton Lyles v. Cecilia Reynolds

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Clifton Lyles v. Cecilia Reynolds

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 21-7291 Doc: 6 Filed: 01/25/2022 Pg: 1 of 2

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 21-7291

CLIFTON DONELL LYLES,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v.

WARDEN CECILIA REYNOLDS,

Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Timothy M. Cain, District Judge. (4:14-cv-01063-TMC)

Submitted: January 20, 2022 Decided: January 25, 2022

Before WILKINSON, DIAZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Clifton Donell Lyles, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 21-7291 Doc: 6 Filed: 01/25/2022 Pg: 2 of 2

PER CURIAM:

Clifton Donell Lyles appeals the district court’s order construing his Fed. R. Civ. P.

60(b) motion for relief from judgment as an unauthorized, successive

28 U.S.C. § 2254

petition and dismissing it for lack of jurisdiction. * Our review of the record confirms that

the district court properly construed Lyles’ Rule 60(b) motion as a successive § 2254

petition over which it lacked jurisdiction because his failed to obtain prefiling authorization

from this court. See

28 U.S.C. § 2244

(b)(3)(A); McRae, 793 F.3d at 397-400.

Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order.

Consistent with our decision in United States v. Winestock,

340 F.3d 200, 208

(4th

Cir. 2003), we construe Lyles’ notice of appeal and informal brief as an application to file

a second or successive § 2254 petition. Upon review, we conclude that Lyles’ claims do

not meet the relevant standard. See

28 U.S.C. § 2244

(b)(2). We therefore deny

authorization to file a successive § 2254 petition.

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.

AFFIRMED

* A certificate of appealability is not required to appeal the district court’s jurisdictional categorization of a Rule 60(b) motion as an unauthorized, successive habeas petition. United States v. McRae,

793 F.3d 392, 400

(4th Cir. 2015).

2

Reference

Status
Unpublished