UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 17-6949
RAYMOND CALVIN VAN FIELD,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
STATE OF MARYLAND,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Greenbelt.
Paul W. Grimm, District Judge. (8:17-cv-01048-PWG)
Submitted: February 27, 2018 Decided: April 4, 2018
Before NIEMEYER and MOTZ, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior Circuit Judge.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Raymond Calvin Van Field, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
Raymond Calvin Van Field seeks to appeal the district court’s order construing his
filing as a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) petition and denying relief. The order is not
appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability. 28 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 Van Field has not
made the requisite showing. To the extent Van Field intended his filing to be an appeal
of the state courts’ dismissal of his motion to reopen proceedings, the district court lacked
subject matter jurisdiction to entertain such an appeal, as “a United States District Court
has no authority to review final judgments of a state court in judicial proceedings.” D.C.
Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 482 (1983). In any event, Van Field has
failed to demonstrate a debatable claim of the denial of a federal constitutional right.
Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability, deny leave to proceed in forma
pauperis, and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and
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legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument
would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
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