Vernon Goodwin v. Kenneth Nelsen ( 2023 )

USCA4 Appeal: 22-6761 Doc: 12 Filed: 07/24/2023 Pg: 1 of 2
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 22-6761
VERNON GOODWIN,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
KENNETH NELSEN, Warden of Broad River Correctional Institution,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Florence.
Timothy M. Cain, District Judge. (4:21-cv-02051-TMC)
Submitted: July 20, 2023 Decided: July 24, 2023
Before NIEMEYER and THACKER, Circuit Judges, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Elizabeth Anne Franklin-Best, ELIZABETH FRANKLIN-BEST, P.C., Columbia, South
Carolina, for Appellant.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
USCA4 Appeal: 22-6761 Doc: 12 Filed: 07/24/2023 Pg: 2 of 2
PER CURIAM:
Vernon Goodwin seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the
recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on Goodwin’s counseled 28
U.S.C. § 2254 petition. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues
a certificate of appealability. See 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A). 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 Goodwin 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
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