Ashcroft, Justice Department Campaign to Expand Capital Punishment by by Michael Rigby During his four years as head of the U.S. Justice Department, Attorney General John Ashcroft has led a sinister campaign to force the federal death penalty in states that have either abolished capital punishment or rarely impose it. …
Michigan Escape is Not “Violent Felony” for ACCA Purposes by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a Michigan “failure to report” escape conviction was not a “violent felony” under 18 U.S.C. § 924, the Armed Career Criminals Act (ACCA). Anthony Collier was arrested by federal agents in …
Michigan Municipal Policy Creates § 1983 Liability Without Constitutional Violation By Agents by Bob Williams By: Bob Williams Michigan's Grand Traverse County (County) motioned for judgment as a matter of law in 2006 after a jury verdict of guilty regarding a deliberate indifference suit filed by former jail prisoner Amy …
Sixth Circuit Now Permits § 1983 Complaint to Proceed Even If Prisoner Did Not Initially Plead Exhaustion Below by Sixth Circuit Now Permits § 1983 Complaint to Proceed Even If Prisoner Did Not Initially Plead Exhaustion Below The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has vacated its precedent which held …
Residence Restriction On Federal Prisoner's Supervised Release Deemed Necessary by Federal Prisoner and American Indian Sheldon Alexander appealed a supervised release condition requiring him to reside in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was implemented to isolate him from past influences and was ruled necessary to protect the public. Alexander's confessed alcohol …
Michigan's "Setting Aside Convictions Act" Doesn't Exempt Sex Offender Registration Requirement by Anonymous Michigan ex prisoners (Does) appealed a Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) requirement after their convictions were set aside under the state's Setting Aside Convictions Act (SACA). The requirement was affirmed. The SACA allows for setting aside a …
Criminal Suspect Policeman's Photo And Address Not Protected From Press by A Michigan State Policeman's wife, Dorothy Bailey, appealed her 42 U.S.C. § 1983 dismissal after Port Huron Police Department personnel revealed her and her husband's personal information to the press. The dismissal was affirmed. Bailey and her inebriated husband, …
$2.75 Million Verdict in Dehydrated Michigan Prisoner’s Death by A Michigan federal jury awarded $2.75 million to a prisoner’s estate in a case claiming deliberate indifference to serious medical needs. The prisoner, Jeffrey Clark, was having mental health problems and died due to the effects of dehydration and inhumanely hot …
$1,250,000 Settlement in Michigan Police Shooting Death by The Township of Clinton, Clinton Township Michigan, has agreed to settle a wrongful death action for $1,250,000 in 2008. Clinton Township officers were called to the home of Zephonia Baher in order to remove an unwanted guest, Tim Antoine Curry. Curry was …
Neal et al v. Michigan DOC, MI, Jury Verdict, sexually hostile prison guard sexual misconduct, 2008 NEAL, et a/., vs. MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et al., Case No. 96-6986-CZ JURY VERDICT FORM· VIVIAN AROUSELL 1. Was plaintiff subject to unwelcome sexual conduct or communication? j Yes No If your answer …
Trifecta for Michigan DOC: Three Reports Find Deficient Prison Medical Care by David Reutter Trifecta for Michigan DOC: Three Reports Find Deficient Prison Medical Care by David M. Reutter From the advent of federal oversight of medical services for Michigan prisoners, the focus has been on three Michigan Dept. of …
Michigan Jail Pays $145,000 for Vindictively Exhibiting Naked Detainees in Segregation Cell by Michigan Jail Pays $145,000 for Vindictively Exhibiting Naked Detainees in Segregation Cell Four former male and female pre-trial detainees sued the Saginaw County, Michigan jail for an outrageous disciplinary policy that forced them to sit in a …
Sixth Circuit: $4.5 Million Award Upheld Against Michigan DOC Doctor in Dehydration Death of Mentally Ill Prisoner by John Dannenberg Sixth Circuit: $4.5 Million Award Upheld Against Michigan DOC Doctor in Dehydration Death of Mentally Ill Prisoner by John E. Dannenberg The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a …
Ten Michigan Lawyers Honored For 8-Year Effort To Win $30 Million Damages For 10 Women Prisoners’ Sexual Abuse By Prison Guards by John Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg Ten Michigan attorneys were awarded two different awards by two national attorney professional associations. The attorneys received the National Lawyers Guilds’ coveted …
Michigan Federal Court Issues Injunctive Relief for Lifer Parole Hearings by John Dannenberg Michigan Federal Court Issues Injunctive Relief for Lifer Parole Hearings by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan issued a declaratory judgment and remedial injunctive order granting new hearings to non-drug …
Retaliation Claim Not Barred by Heck by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held a prisoner’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action is not barred when a victory for the prisoner “would have at most the potential to decrease his period of detention,” in a case where the prisoner “alleged …
Drilling Teeth Without Anesthesia and Denial of Lower Bunk Upheld by The plaintiff alleged that the defendant forced him to take an upper bunk despite his visual impairment and made him stay there after he got a medical direction to take a bottom bunk; a month and a half later …
Sixth Circuit Upholds $385,000 Contempt Sanction Against Michigan DOC by Prison officials were fined $38500, at a rate of $500 a day, for failure to provide programming to female prisoners equivalent to that for male prisoners, as required by its prior orders. The imposition of contempt sanctions is reviewed for …
Michigan State Treasurer Seizes 90 Percent Of Prisoner's Suit Proceeds by Michigan State prisoner Raymond Jackson sought leave to appeal an appellate ruling allowing the state treasurer to seize 90 percent of his federal action proceeds under the State Correctional Facility Reimbursement Act (SCFRA). His attorneys appealed the reduction of …
MI Prisoner’s Estate’s Wrongful Death Suit Dismissed Because He Caused His Own Death by Swallowing Illegal Drugs by On an undisclosed date, Michigan resident Terance Graham was arrested for marijuana possession. Just before his arrest he swallowed an ounce of cocaine. Later, at the Washtenaw County Jail, he complained that …
