Garcia v. Harlingen Cty ( 2021 )

Case: 19-40860 Document: 00515837583 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/27/2021
United States Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
April 27, 2021
No. 19-40860 Lyle W. Cayce
Summary Calendar Clerk
Jesus Torres Garcia,
Plaintiff—Appellant,
versus
Harlingen County, Brownsville, Texas, Cameron
County Courthouse; Public Defenders Office,
Defendants—Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Texas
USDC No. 1:19-CV-58
Before Jolly, Elrod, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam:*
Jesus Torres Garcia, Texas prisoner # 2105760, has appealed the
dismissal of his civil rights action, raising claims related to his 2016 conviction
for indecency with a child by contact. A prisoner’s civil rights complaint may
*
Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited
circumstances set forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 19-40860 Document: 00515837583 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/27/2021
No. 19-40860
be dismissed at any time if it is frivolous or fails to state a claim on which relief
may be granted, whether or not the prisoner is proceeding in forma pauperis.
See 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Our review is de novo. See Geiger v. Jowers, 404 F.3d
371, 373 (5th Cir. 2005).
Torres Garcia contends in conclusional fashion that his rights to due
process, equal protection, and assistance of counsel were violated during his
criminal prosecution. He asserts that the allegations against him were
libelous, that his reputation was damaged, and that his wrongful conviction
will result in his deportation.
The claims raised in Torres Garcia’s complaint are barred under Heck
v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 486-87 (1994), because a ruling in his favor as to
any of these claims would implicate the validity of his conviction and
incarceration and because Torres Garcia has not shown that his conviction
or sentence has been reversed, invalidated, or expunged. The claims are not
temporally and conceptually distinct from his conviction and sentence. See
Smith v. Hood, 900 F.3d 180, 185 (5th Cir. 2018). Thus, the district court did
not err in dismissing Torres Garcia’s complaint as frivolous, see Hamilton v.
Lyons, 74 F.3d 99, 102 (5th Cir. 1996), and for failure to state a claim, see
Randell v. Johnson, 227 F.3d 300, 301 (5th Cir. 2000). However, the
judgment is modified to reflect the “preferred order of dismissal in Heck
cases,” which states that the “claims are dismissed with prejudice to their
being asserted again until the Heck conditions are met.” DeLeon v. City of
Corpus Christi, 488 F.3d 649, 657 (5th Cir. 2007) (internal quotation marks
and citation omitted).
AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.
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