Langston v. Braxton

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 03-6674 THOMAS EUGENE LANGSTON, Petitioner - Appellant, versus D. A. BRAXTON, Warden, Red Onion State Prison, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Claude M. Hilton, Chief District Judge. (CA-03-305-AM) Submitted: September 26, 2003 Decided: October 17, 2003 Before WILLIAMS, MOTZ, and TRAXLER, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Thomas Eugene Langston, Appellant Pro Se. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM: Thomas E. Langston seeks to appeal the district court’s order dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000) motion. Langston cannot appeal this order unless a circuit judge or justice issues a certificate of appealability, and 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) (2000). An appellant meets this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that his constitutional claims are debatable and that any dispositive procedural rulings by the district court are also debatable or wrong. See Miller-El v. Cockrell, 537 U.S. 322, , 123 S. Ct. 1029, 1039 (2003); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484 (2000); Rose v. Lee, 252 F.3d 676, 683 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 941 (2001). We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Langston has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we deny Langston’s motion for a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal.* We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately * In his informal brief to this court, Langston requests authorization to file a second petition for habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b). Having construed this informal brief as a motion for authorization, see United States v. Winestock, 340 F.3d 200, 208 (4th Cir. 2003), we conclude that, under the strictures of that statute, Langston is not entitled to such authorization. 2 presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process. DISMISSED 3