Donald Cornelius Jackson v. HAROLD W. CLARKE, Director

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 19-7406

DONALD CORNELIUS JACKSON,

Petitioner - Appellant,

v.

HAROLD W. CLARKE, Director,

Respondent - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at
Norfolk. Arenda L. Wright Allen, District Judge. (2:18-cv -00179-AWA-LRL)

Submitted: February 25, 2020 Decided: March 19, 2020

Before WYNN and RUSHING, Circuit Judges, and SHEDD, Senior Circuit Judge.

Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Donald Cornelius Jackson, Appellant Pro Se.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

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PER CURIAM:
Donald Cornelius Jackson seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the
recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on Jackson’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254
(2018) 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) (2018). 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) (2018). When the district court denies relief on the merits,
a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists would find the
district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong. See Buck v.
Davis, 137 S. Ct. 759, 773-74 (2017). 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. Gonzalez v. Thaler, 565 U.S. 134, 140-41 (2012) (citing Slack v. McDaniel, 529
U.S. 473, 484 (2000)).
We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Jackson has not made
the requisite showing.
*
Accordingly, we deny a certificate of appealability, deny leave to
proceed in forma pauperis, and dismiss the appeal. We dispense with oral argument

*
On appeal, we confine our review to the issues raised in the Appellant’s brief. See
4th Cir. R. 34(b). Because Jackson’s informal brief does not challenge the district court’s
conclusion that his § 2254 is barred by the statute of limitations, he has forfeited appellate
review of this basis for the district court’s decision. See Jackson v. Lightsey, 775 F.3d 170,
177 (4th Cir. 2014) (“The informal brief is an important document; under Fourth Circuit
rules, our review is limited to issues preserved in that brief.”).

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because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED