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Article • May 15, 2007
Policy Requiring Court Order For Law Library Access Unconstitutional by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a Sarasota County (Florida) Jail policy requiring a prisoner to obtain a court order before being permitted to use the jail law library was unconstitutional. Plaintiff was arrested on …
Article • May 15, 2007
Judgment Vacated in Aikens v. Lash by The Supreme Court granted certiorari, granted respondents leave to proceed in forma pauperis, and vacated and remanded the Seventh Circuit's decision in Aikens v. Lash, 54 F.2d 55 (7th Cir. 1975), a case in which segregated Indiana state prisoners were given the right …
Article • May 15, 2007
Lay Advocate Case Affirmed in Part by In an unpublished opinion, the Seventh Circuit court of appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded an Indiana case requiring that prisoners in segregation be given a lay advocate during disciplinary transfer hearings. There are numerous other opinions in this case …
Article • May 15, 2007
Prisoners' Motion and Petition Granted, Judgment Vacated by Prisoners in the Bexar County (Texas) Jail filed a suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging of inadequate access to law books. The district court summarily dismissed the suit and the Fifth Circuit refused to docket the appeal because the prisoners had …
Article • May 15, 2007
No Due Process Hearing Needed In Prison Transfer by The Supreme Court ruled that a prisoner had no Constitutional right to remain at any particular prison. The case stems from a suit filed by a New York prisoner who was fired from his job as a law library clerk and …
Court Grants New Trial to Uneducated Pro Se Litigant by A federal district court has granted a new trial to a pro se litigant, who quit school in the tenth grade and displayed during trial a lack of legal knowledge and limited skills, after the jury entered judgment for the …
Retaliatory Harassment and Transfer of Law Clerk Nets $2,100 Award by A federal district court in Tennessee, after a bench trial, held that the Warden at Tennessee State Prison (TSP) violated a prisoner's right to access to the courts for taking retaliatory action against the prisoner. After the prisoner helped …
Seventh Circuit Reverses Dismissal of Race/Exposure Claims by In an unpublished order, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of an Illinois prisoner's racial discrimination and pepper spray exposure claims. Illinois prisoner Johnnie Flournoy brought suit in federal court asserting several unrelated constitutional violations. The district court dismissed …
Article • May 15, 2007
Class Certification Explained by As to numerosity (at 286): "Numbers alone are not dispositive when the numbers are small, but will dictate impracticability when the numbers are large." Here there are at least 168 members, far more than necessary to establish numerosity. Other factors supporting certification include that most class …
Article • May 15, 2007
Trial Court Must Make Fact Findings Before Ordering Stun Belt by The application of a stun belt to a criminal defendant is governed by the same considerations and body of law as restraint devices. Such a decision "must be subjected to close judicial scrutiny to determine if there was an …
Article • May 15, 2007
Court Authorizes Use of Stun Belt on Criminal Defendant by The requirement that the criminal defendant wear a stun belt during his trial is upheld given the defendant's "rare combination of skill, ingenuity, cunning, and fearlessness" and his love of attempting to escape (extensively described), not to mention his violent …
Article • May 15, 2007
No Prejudice in 45 Uniformed Guards Presence at Murder Trial of Guard by The Florida Supreme Court has held that the presence of forty-five uniformed prison guards at a prisoner's trial for the murder of a guard was not a prejudicial influence on the jury. The Court's ruling came in …
Prisoner Legal Aide's Firing Upheld for Violating Prison Rules by The plaintiff was terminated from the prison legal clinic after misusing his position to send mail to unauthorized places and signed letters indicating he was the representative of other inmates, which was contrary to prison policy. He was fired after …
Article • May 15, 2007
Court Orders Leg Shackled for Criminal Defendant by The court makes findings of fact memorializing its decision to require the plaintiff to be leg- shackled during his jury trial. He had a history of one escape, significant mental disability, and numerous disciplinary charges. The court relied in part on the …
Article • May 15, 2007
Limits on Free Legal Supplies in Virginia Upheld by The plaintiff said prison officials did not provide him enough legal supplies and asked for a preliminary injunction. At 671-72: "The mere fact that he has chosen to pursue four lawsuits at one time does not require prison officials to alter …
Article • May 15, 2007
Prejudice Required for Courtroom Shackling Claim by The plaintiff's claim of courtroom shackling amounts only to harmless error, since only one juror saw the plaintiff in handcuffs and none saw his leg restraints. At 691: ". . . [A] jury's brief or inadvertent glimpse of a defendant in physical restraints …
Article • May 15, 2007
Having Won Compensatory Damages in State Court, Suit for Punitives Dismissed by The plaintiff, having won his excessive force case in the state Court of Claims and been awarded $3,151.38, cannot pursue an Eighth Amendment claim based on the same incident, even though he wished to pursue punitive damages, which …
Retaliatory Discipline Claims Dismissed, Conditions Claims Remain by The plaintiff's damage claim alleging that officers planted a key which led to a disciplinary proceeding in which he lost good time is barred by Heck v. Humphrey, as is his claim that the hearing itself was defective. In any case, federal …
Article • May 15, 2007
12 Day Delay Between Arrest, First Court Appearance Illegal by The law is clearly established that a pre-trial detainee cannot be held for 12 days before being brought before a judge or allowed to pay bail. This is another case where the plaintiff was picked up on a warrant, there …
Article • May 15, 2007
No Law Library Required When Defendant Has Standby Counsel by The criminal defendant elected to defend himself but contends that he should have had access to a law library. At 1051: . . . [P]retrial detainees are not entitled to law library usage if other available means of access to …
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