Case Explained: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. WILLIAM JON PATRIC EBERT

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-29 The fourth-circuit denied a certificate of appealability and dismissed the appeal from the district court’s order denying relief on William Jon Patric Ebert’s 28 U.S.C. § 2255 motion. The court held that an appeal in such a case is not permissible without a certificate of appealability, which requires a “substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right.” Under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(B) and § 2253(c)(2), the court applied the standard that a prisoner must demonstrate that reasonable jurists could find the district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong if the denial was on the merits, or that both the procedural ruling and the underlying claim are debatable if the denial was on procedural grounds. After independently reviewing the record, the court concluded that Ebert failed to make this requisite showing. Consequently, the appeal is dismissed without oral argument. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.