Justin Johnson v. Warden, Broad River Correctional Institution, No. 23-6753 (4th Cir. 2024)

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UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 23-6753 JUSTIN JERMAINE JOHNSON, a/k/a Justin J. Johnson, Petitioner - Appellant, v. WARDEN, BROAD RIVER CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION, Respondent - Appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Rock Hill. Cameron McGowan Currie, Senior District Judge. (0:22-cv-03210-CMC) Submitted: March 28, 2024 Before WYNN, THACKER, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges. Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Justin Jermaine Johnson, Appellant Pro Se. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. Decided: April 2, 2024 PER CURIAM: Justin Jermaine Johnson, a South Carolina prisoner, seeks to appeal the district court’s order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and denying relief on Johnson’s 28 U.S.C. § 2254 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). 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)). We have independently reviewed the record and conclude that Johnson has not made the requisite showing. Accordingly, we 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 2

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