UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 12-6558
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
v.
CATHY DIANE FERGUSON,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Spartanburg. Timothy M. Cain, District
Judge. (7:09-cr-00890-TMC-1; 7:11-cv-70060-TMC)
Submitted: July 26, 2012 Decided: August 2, 2012
Before MOTZ and DAVIS, Circuit Judges. ∗
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Cathy Diane Ferguson, Appellant Pro Se. David Calhoun Stephens,
Assistant United States Attorney, Greenville, South Carolina,
for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
∗
The opinion is filed by a quorum pursuant to 28 U.S.C.
§ 46(d).
PER CURIAM:
Cathy Diane Ferguson seeks to appeal the district
court’s order denying relief on her 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West
Supp. 2012) motion. The order is not appealable unless a
circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability.
28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) (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 Ferguson has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly,
we deny a certificate of appealability and dismiss the appeal.
We deny Ferguson’s motion for appointment of counsel. We
dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
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contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
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