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New Trial Ordered in Excessive Use of Force Suit by A federal district court in New York has ordered a new trial in a civil rights excessive use of force suit. Prisoner Milton Ruffin filed suit against Sullivan Correctional Facility guard Van Fuller for an incident that occurred on October …
$3 Million Award Not Excessive in Prisoner Beating Death by The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld a $778,000 verdict and $2.2 million punitive damage award against Shelby County, Tenn. deputy sheriff Rhett Shearin and life prisoner Jerry Ellis in a county jail beating death where Shearin …
Due Process Violation, Plain Error Reverse Marijuana Conviction by The Michigan Supreme Court reversed a state prisoner's conviction for possession of marijuana after finding that the prosecution had improperly introduced inculpatory statements made by the defendant at an earlier prison disciplinary hearing. Raymond Wyngaard was a prisoner of Michigan's Kinross …
Texas Prisoner Raped By Wackenhut Guard Entitled To Discovery Protection by An appeals court in Texas has held that, under the Texas rape victims shield laws, Rule 412, 509(c)(1) and 510(b)(1), Texas Rules of Evidence, a prisoner who was raped by a guard and is suing Wackenhut may not be …
Sixth Circuit Orders Retrial of Retaliation Suit by by Matthew T. Clarke The Sixth Circuit court of appeals has ordered the retrial of a lawsuit by the surviving mother of a deceased ex-prisoner against a guard who allegedly retaliated against her son because the mother requested the guard's name and …
Contradictory Disciplinary Hearing Evidence Not Precluded From Use of Excessive Force Suit by Ronald Young By Ronald Young The U.S. district court for the East- ern District of California held that a prisoner was not precluded from introducing evidence contradicting factual findings of disciplinary proceeding instituted against prisoner as a …
Heck Does Not Bar Evidence in Shooting Case by Ronald Young The U.S. district court for the East ern District of California held that a prisoner was not precluded from introducing evidence contradicting factual findings of disciplinary proceeding instituted against prisoner as a result of incident. Vincent Marquez, a California …
Absent Plain Error, Objection Necessary to Preserve Issues by The appeals court for the Seventh circuit held that if a pretrial ruling is definitive, objection at trial is not necessary to preserve the issue for appellate review. The court also held that objection to a guard's counsel's references to pretrial …
Infraction Inadmissable at Criminal Trial by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that a district court erred when it admitted testimony on the outcome of a prison disciplinary hearing in a criminal trial on the same charges. Anthony Thomas was convicted in federal court of mailing death …
Mitigation Instruction and Excluding Indemnification Evidence Reversible Error by The court of appeals for the Seventh circuit held that a district court erred when it did not allow a jail detainee plaintiff to introduce evidence of a state indemnification statute after the defendants told a jury that a damages verdict …
Eighth Circuit Reinstates $80,000 Damage Award in Rape Case by The court of appeals for the eighth circuit held that an Arkansas state prisoner was entitled to damages for both the state tort of "outrage", and for a constitutional violation. The court reinstated the full $80,000 damage award against the …
$15,001 Excessive Force Verdict Affirmed by The court of appeals for the First circuit affirmed a jury verdict awarding $15,001 in damages to a prisoner beaten by prison guards. The court affirmed several evidentiary rulings by the district court excluding evidence of a disciplinary hearing guilty plea by the plaintiff …
Failure to Protect in Prison Fight Violates 8th Amendment by Failure To Protect In Prison Fight Violates 8th Amendment In 1994, the duty of guards to protect prisoners in prison fights was clearly established by Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994) according to a federal district court in Texas. …
Sexual History Evidence Limited in Rape Suit by Afederal district court in New Mexico held that private prison officials were limited in what questions they could elicit about a prison rape victim's sexual history. Tanya Giron is a prisoner who was forcibly raped by private prison guard Danny Tor2ez while …
Article • July 15, 1998 • from PLN July, 1998
Criminal History Inadmissable for Impeachment by In a ruling useful to prisoner litigants whose claims go to trial, a federal district court in New York gave a detailed discussion on the limits of using prior criminal history to impeach the testimony of felon witnesses. While not involving prison or jail …
Vigilante Attack on Prisoner Requires Trial by The court of appeals for the second circuit held that issues of fact as to whether guards were personally involved in a vicious attack on a prisoner, precluded summary judgment for the guards. The court also held that a statement allegedly made by …
Supervisors Liable for Excessive Force by The court of appeals for the eighth circuit affirmed an award of compensatory and punitive damages against a guard who beat a handcuffed and unresisting prisoner, the four guards who held the prisoner down during the attack, the lieutenant who supervised the beating and …
Article • March 15, 1998 • from PLN March, 1998
Tax Court Required to Assist in Witness Subpoena by The court of appeals for the ninth circuit held that a tax court's refusal to honor subpoenas filed by an indigent pro se prisoner litigant, without prepayment of the witness and mileage fees, violated the prisoner's right of access to the …
Knowledge of Risk May Establish 8th Amendment Liability by The court of appeals for the sixth circuit held that a prison investigator's report indicating a prisoner was at risk of attack was sufficient to establish eighth amendment liability on the part of supervisory prison officials, if they read it. The …
Jury Awards $201,501 to Raped Indiana Prisoner by John Emry By John Emry Graylon Bell was placed in the Plainfield Correctional Facility operated by the Indiana Department of Correction in January of 1994. Shortly after, another prisoner, Grady Vaxter, started hitting on Bell hinting Vaxter was interested in Bell and …
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