UNPUBLISHED

                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
                        FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT


                               No. 10-7145


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

                  Plaintiff - Appellee,

          v.

DANI GUERRA-MORALES,

                  Defendant - Appellant.



Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Richmond.    James R. Spencer, Chief
District Judge. (3:08-cr-00253-JRS-1)


Submitted:     November 18, 2010             Decided:   December 2, 2010


Before SHEDD and      AGEE,   Circuit   Judges,   and   HAMILTON,   Senior
Circuit Judge.


Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.


Dani Guerra-Morales, Appellant Pro Se. Sara Elizabeth Chase,
Assistant United States Attorney, Richmond, Virginia, for
Appellee.


Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:

            Dani    Guerra-Morales        seeks       to    appeal   the    district

court’s order denying relief on his 28 U.S.C.A. § 2255 (West

Supp.    2010)    motion.        The   order   is     not    appealable    unless    a

circuit justice or judge issues a certificate of appealability.

28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1) (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, 

,

484 (2000);       see    Miller-El v. Cockrell, 

, 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.                         

.          We have independently reviewed the record

and    conclude    that    Guerra-Morales       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      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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