Rosendahl v. Nixon

wl FILED JUL 29 2009 IJNITED sTArEs 1)1STR1CT CoURT Cl¢rk, U.s. ois¢r;¢t and FoR THE DISTRICT oF CoLUMBIA B°"'“"P*~°CY Courts RoLF RoSENDAHL, ) Plaintiff, § v, § Civi1Action No. JEREMIAH "JAY" NIXoN, er al., § Defendants. g MEMQRANDUM oPINIoN This matter is before the Court on plaintiff s application to proceed in forma pauperis and pro se complaint. The Court will grant the application and dismiss the complaint. Plaintiff was arrested, charged, tried and convicted of a felony offense in the Circuit Court of Johnson County, Missouri, allegedly on the basis of a warrant and criminal infonnation unsupported by probable cause and in violation of Missouri law and the United States Constitution. He unsuccessfully sought habeas relief in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, and the civil rights actions he brought in federal court were dismissed under Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994). ln Heck, the Supreme Court held that: . in order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a conviction or sentence invalid, a § 1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such deterrnination, or called into question by a federal court's issuance of a writ for habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. § 2254 . Ia'. at 486-87; Williams v. Hill, 74 F.3d 1339, 1340-41 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (applying Heck to an action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of F ederal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)). Plaintiff’ s sentence has expired, and habeas relief is no longer unavailable to him. In this action, plaintiff demands a declaratory judgment that the "favorable termination" rule of Heck does not bar an action seeking redress for the wrongful acts committed by the Govemor of Missouri, the Sheriff of Johnson County, Missouri, the prosecutor and two judges of the Circuit Court for johnson County, Missouri involved in the criminal proceedings against him. The Court will dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. "Because [plaintiff, a former prisoner,] is seeking damages pursuant to § 1983 for unconstitutional imprisonment and has not satisfied the favorable termination requirement of Heck, he is barred from any recovery and fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted." Randell v. Johnson, 227 F.3d 300, 301 (5th Cir. 2000) (per curiam); Mitchell v. Dep ’t of Corr., 272 F. Supp. 2d 464 (M.D. Pa. 2003) (applying Heck’s favorable termination requirement to preclude a § 1983 action filed by a state prisoner who had been released from custody). Nor can plaintiff obtain declaratory relief based on the allegations of the complaint because, again, a judgment in plaintiff s favor necessarily implies the invalidity of his conviction and sentence. See Edwards v. Balz`sok, 520 U.S. 641, 648 (l997). An Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion. "?;¢¢C.//’;¢,L#F¢Z¢ United States District Judge DATE; '7/7,7 /07