UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 10-7432
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
PORTEAL GROOM,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
Maryland, at Baltimore. Peter J. Messitte, Senior District
Judge. (1:95-cr-00294-3; 8:99-cv-02881-PJM)
Submitted: May 26, 2011 Decided: May 31, 2011
Before KING, SHEDD, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Porteal Groom, Appellant Pro Se. David Ira Salem, Assistant
United States Attorney, Greenbelt, Maryland, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Porteal Groom seeks to appeal the district court’s
text orders denying his motion to reinstate his 28 U.S.C.A.
§ 2255 (West Supp. 2010) motion, and denying his motion for
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) (2006). 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) (2006). 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 motion 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 Groom has not made the requisite showing.
Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss
the appeal.
Additionally, although Groom characterizes his motion
to reinstate his § 2255 motion as a Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)
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motion, we conclude that it is a successive § 2255 motion.
Accordingly, we construe Groom’s notice of appeal and informal
brief as an application to file a second or successive § 2255
motion. United States v. Winestock, 340 F.3d 200, 208 (4th Cir.
2003). In order to obtain authorization to file a successive
§ 2255 motion, a prisoner must assert claims based on either:
(1) newly discovered evidence, not previously discoverable by
due diligence, that would be sufficient to establish by clear
and convincing evidence that, but for constitutional error, no
reasonable factfinder would have found the movant guilty of the
offense; or (2) a new rule of constitutional law, previously
unavailable, made retroactive by the Supreme Court to cases on
collateral review. 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255(h) (West Supp. 2010).
Groom’s claims do not satisfy either of these criteria.
Therefore, we deny authorization to file a successive § 2255
motion.
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
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