Duane Harrison v. Bryan Stirling

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Duane Harrison v. Bryan Stirling

Opinion

USCA4 Appeal: 24-6774 Doc: 11 Filed: 12/27/2024 Pg: 1 of 2

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-6774

DUANE HARRISON,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v.

BRYAN P. STIRLING, Commissioner South Carolina Department of Corrections; KEVIN FORD, Acting Warden Kershaw Correctional Institution,

Respondents - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence. Cameron McGowan Currie, Senior District Judge. (4:18-cv-02373-CMC)

Submitted: December 19, 2024 Decided: December 27, 2024

Before KING and BERNER, Circuit Judges, and TRAXLER, Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Glenn Walters, Sr., LAW OFFICE OF GLENN WALTERS, PA, Orangeburg, South Carolina, for Appellant.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 24-6774 Doc: 11 Filed: 12/27/2024 Pg: 2 of 2

PER CURIAM:

Duane Harrison seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying his Fed. R. Civ.

P. 60(b) motion for relief from the court’s prior order dismissing his

28 U.S.C. § 2254

petition. He also seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying reconsideration. The

orders are not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of

appealability.

28 U.S.C. § 2253

(c)(1)(A). See generally United States v. McRae,

793 F.3d 392

, 400 & n.7 (4th Cir. 2015). 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,

580 U.S. 100, 115-17

(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 petition 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 Harrison 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

2

Reference

Status
Unpublished