DocketNumber: 15-6422
Citation Numbers: 607 F. App'x 306
Filed Date: 6/23/2015
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 1/13/2023
UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 15-6422 TRUDY ELIANA MUNOZ RUEDA, Petitioner – Appellant, v. HAROLD W. CLARKE, Director, Virginia Department of Corrections, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Leonie M. Brinkema, District Judge. (1:14-cv-00699-LMB-IDD) Submitted: June 18, 2015 Decided: June 23, 2015 Before SHEDD, DUNCAN, and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Jonathan P. Sheldon, SHELDON, FLOOD & HAYWOOD, PLC, Fairfax, Virginia, for Appellant. Rosemary Virginia Bourne, OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. PER CURIAM: Trudy Eliana Munoz Rueda seeks to appeal the district court’s order denying relief on her28 U.S.C. § 2254
(2012) petition. The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. See28 U.S.C. § 2253
(c)(1)(A) (2012). 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) (2012). 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 petition 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 Rueda 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 2 contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED 3