UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 07-7687
JOHN PHILMORE CARPENTER,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
THEODIS BECK, Secretary, North Carolina
Department of Correction,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle
District of North Carolina, at Durham. Paul Trevor Sharp,
Magistrate Judge. (1:07-cv-00109-PTS)
Submitted: February 21, 2008 Decided: February 27, 2008
Before MOTZ and GREGORY, Circuit Judges, and WILKINS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
John Philmore Carpenter, Appellant Pro Se. Clarence Joe DelForge,
III, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North Carolina,
for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
John Philmore Carpenter seeks to appeal the magistrate
judge’s order dismissing as untimely his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2000)
petition.* The order is not appealable unless a circuit justice or
judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 U.S.C. §
2253(c)(1) (2000). 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). A prisoner satisfies this
standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find that
any assessment of the constitutional claims by the district court
is debatable or wrong and that any dispositive procedural ruling by
the district court is likewise debatable. Miller-El v. Cockrell,
537 U.S. 322, 336-38 (2003); Slack v. McDaniel, 529 U.S. 473, 484
(2000); Rose v. Lee, 252 F.3d 676, 683-84 (4th Cir. 2001). We have
independently reviewed the record and conclude that Carpenter 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 the court and argument would not
aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
*
The parties consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate
judge under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c) (2000).
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