Dennis Ray Graves v. Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Corrections

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 15-7891
DENNIS RAY GRAVES,
Petitioner - Appellant,
v.
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS,
Respondent - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. James C. Cacheris, Senior
District Judge. (1:15-cv-01276-JCC-JFA)
Submitted: July 29, 2016 Decided: August 29, 2016
Before MOTZ, SHEDD, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Dennis Ray Graves, Appellant Pro Se.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Dennis Ray Graves seeks to appeal the district court’s
order dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (2012) petition as an
unauthorized second or successive petition. The order is not
appealable unless a circuit justice or judge issues a
certificate of appealability. See 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
Graves has not made the requisite showing.* Accordingly, we deny
* This appeal was placed in abeyance for In re Wright, ___
F.3d ___, No. 15-281, 2016 WL 3409851 (4th Cir. June 21, 2016)
(holding that a convicted state prisoner challenging the
(Continued)

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leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal, 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 this court and argument would
not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
execution of his sentence is required to apply for authorization
to file a second or successive habeas application).

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