James Samples v. David Ballard

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Floyd wrote the opinion, in which Judge Traxler and Judge Diaz joined.

FLOYD, Circuit Judge:

This petition for relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 comes before this Court pursuant to a grant of a certificate of appealability by the district court. The district court below rejected arguments from Appellant-Petitioner James Samples based on Samples’s failure to raise them beforé the magistrate judge. Acknowledging, however, that this ruling may run contrary to our holding in United States v. George, 971 F.2d 1113 (4th Cir. 1992), the district court granted the…