Prolonged Bench Restraint and Excessive Pepper Spraying Requires Trial by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a grant of summary judgment to prison officials in a prisoner’s lawsuit alleging Eighth Amendment violations when guards restrained him on a bench for 24 hours for refusing to accept a cell …
$150,000 Settlement In Missouri Jail Suicide Suit by On May 21, 2008, the Sheriff of Adair County, Missouri agreed to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the family of a prisoner who committed suicide while at the Adair County Detention Center (ACDC). The settlement requires the county to pay …
No Attorney’s Fees for Prevailing Defendants, Eighth Circuit Holds by On May 2, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed on award of attorney’s fees for a defendant in a civil rights action. After Charles Williams lost his civil rights action against the City of Carl …
Prisoner’s Family Wins Suit Against BOP Following Prisoner’s Suicide by The family members of Billy Joe Chilton filed a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 1346(b) and 28 U.S.C. Sections 2671, et seq., as well as the Missouri Wrongful Death Statute, alleging that the Federal Bureau of …
Eighth Circuit Rejects Reckless Investigation Claim by On April 8, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected a lawsuit brought by a former prisoner against a prison investigator for his role in the prisoner’s murder conviction and resulting death sentence. Joseph Amrine sued George Brooks, a …
Missouri Court Reverses $244,636 Incarceration Cost Award Against Prisoner by Mark Wilson Missouri Court Reverses $244,636 Incarceration Cost Award Against Prisoner by Mark Wilson The Missouri Court of Appeals has concluded that a factual dispute as to whether the state had “good cause” to seek reimbursement of incarceration costs barred …
Eighth Circuit: Missouri Prisoner Has Right to Elective Abortion by The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held that the Missouri Department of Corrections’ (MDOC) blanket policy of prohibiting the transport of female prisoners to outside medical facilities for elective, non-therapeutic abortions violated the Fourteenth Amendment. An anonymous MDOC …
Missouri DOC Ordered to Pay Ex-Prisoner $10,600 for Wrongful Imprisonment by On May 20, 2005, a federal jury in Eastern Missouri awarded ex-prisoner, Daryl Davis, $10,600 after corrections officials in that State failed to release him for almost 60 days after his court-ordered release. Convicted of theft in St. Louis …
Eighth Circuit Holds Failure of U.S. Parole Commission to Hold Early Termination Hearing Does Not Make Custody Illegal by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that 18 U.S.C. sec. 4211(c)(1) creates only a right to an early parole termination hearing, not a right to release in the absence …
Elderly Couple Awarded $345,000 for Excessive Force During Arrest by A jury in Missouri’s Jackson County Circuit Court has awarded an elderly couple $345,000 on a claim that Kansas City police used excessive force to arrest them. The jury only took three hours to render its May 9, 2008 verdict. …
Court Halts Missouri Physician-Overseen Lethal Injection Execution; Blows Doctor’s Cover by A “secret” Missouri surgeon who has supervised 54 prisoner executions had his cover pulled and suffered immediate peer criticism, court restriction, and a media barrage. In tension were the Hippocratic Oath of doctors to sustain the life of their …
Federal Judge Orders Missouri To Amend Its Lethal Injection Protocol by The U.S. District Court ordered the state of Missouri to amend its lethal injection execution protocol to comport with Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment standards. Missouri condemned prisoner Michael Taylor had challenged Missouri’s procedure to utilize a three-drug …
Missouri Prisoner Wins $25,000 in Police Excessive Force Case; Attorney Fees Limited to $37,500 by PLRA by Missouri Prisoner Wins $25,000 in Police Excessive Force Case; Attorney Fees Limited to $37,500 by PLRA The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, following the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), …
Retroactive Residency Restrictions for Missouri Sex Offenders Unconstitutional by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On May 24, 2007, Cole County, Missouri Circuit Court Judge Patricia S. Joyce ruled that a Missouri statute requiring certain registered sex offenders to move if they lived within 1,000 feet of a school (§ 566.147, …
McCall v. Rock Hill, MO, Planintiff Memo for Contempt, 2008 Case: 4:08-cv-00471-CEJ Doc. #: 32 Filed: 12/04/08 Page: 1 of 4 PageID #: 107 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION CURTIS MCCALL, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Plaintiff, vs. CITY OF …
$305,021 Awarded to Missouri Prisoner Struck by Tree; State Legislature Takes Note by Brandon Sample $305,021 Awarded to Missouri Prisoner Struck by Tree; State Legislature Takes Note by Brandon Sample A Missouri prisoner was awarded $305,021 after being struck by a tree. In February 2000, Hortense Cain, a female prisoner …
Grabbing Prisoner’s Buttocks Not Sexual Assault by Several civilian maintenance workers grabbed the plaintiff's buttocks briefly. This conduct did not violate the Eighth Amendment because there is no evidence that the plaintiff suffered anything more than a brief unwanted touch. The plaintiff submits no evidence except his own characterization to …
Author Jack Abbott’s Snitching Cannot Prevent Transfer by On September 23, 1983, the Eighth Circuit court of appeals held that a prisoner who claimed to be in danger for having snitched on other prisoners cannot prevent his own transfer to a prison where he claimed be would be in danger …
Slapping Prisoner on Face Okay by The plaintiff was being transferred and shouted obscenities and refused to put out her cigarette. The Sheriff says he tried to take the cigarette out of her mouth and she tried to bite him, and his hand "made contact" with her face. The plaintiff …
Challenge to Missouri Lethal Injection Protocol Remanded for Discovery by On April 27, 2006, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals remanded a death row prisoner's challenge to Missouri’s lethal injection protocol for additional discovery following a botched attempt at resolving the issue using an accelerated schedule. Michael Anthony Taylor, a …
