Duane Harrison v. Bryan P. Stirling

Florence, South Carolina civil rights lawyer represented the Plaintiff.



Duane Harrison seeks to appeal the district court's order denying his Fed.R.Civ.P. 60(b) motion for relief from the court's prior order dismissing his 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petition. He also seeks to appeal the district court's order denying 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). See generally United States v. McRae, 793 F.3d 392, 400 &n.7 (4th Cir. 2015). 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). When the district court denies relief on the merits, a prisoner satisfies this standard by demonstrating that reasonable jurists could find the district court's assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong. See Buck v. Davis, 580 U.S. 100, 115-17 (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)).





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CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. APPEALS AND HABEAS CORPUS. The case involves an appeal concerning the denial of a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from the dismissal of a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 habeas corpus petition, where the court assessed the appellant's failure to obtain a certificate of appealability as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A).

Key Phrases Certificate of appealability denial. Unpublished per curiam opinion. Substantial showing of constitutional right. Procedural grounds denial. Decisional process.

Dismissed