Fidel L. Reyes v. Superior Court of California, County of Orange ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 FIDEL L. REYES, Case No. 8:20-cv-01345-JFW-AFM 12 Plaintiff, ORDER DISMISSING 13 v. COMPLAINT SUPERIOR COURT OF 14 CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF 15 ORANGE, et al., 16 Defendants. 17 18 Plaintiff presently is a state prisoner at the California Correctional Institution 19 at Tehachapi, California. Proceeding pro se, he paid the full filing fee in this civil 20 rights case purportedly brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 21 § 1915A, the Court has screened the pleading to determine whether plaintiff’s 22 Complaint is frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim on which relief may be 23 granted, or seeks monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 24 Section 1915A requires the Court to screen any “complaint in a civil action” if, at the 25 time the plaintiff files the complaint, he or she is a prisoner seeking “redress from a 26 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity.” 28 U.S.C. 27 § 1915A(a); see also Olivas v. Nev. ex rel. Dep’t of Corr., 856 F.3d 1281, 1283 (9th 28 Cir. 2017). 1 Here, plaintiff seeks relief from an unspecified “judge” in Orange County 2 Superior Court1; unspecified “District Attorneys” in Orange County, and unspecified 3 “investigators.” (ECF No. 1 at 2.) Plaintiff alleges numerous violations, primarily 4 pertaining to his arrest, a forced confession, evidentiary errors at trial, and 5 prosecutorial misconduct. Plaintiff alleges that he suffered “false imprisonment” (id. 6 at 3-5) and a wrongful conviction (id. at 4) and that he is in prison for a crime that he 7 “did not commit” (id. at 5). Plaintiff also alleges that he received a “life sentence” 8 on a “third strike,” but he never suffered a first or second “strike.” (Id.at 3.) Plaintiff 9 seeks monetary damages and to “challenge” defendants for his wrongful conviction. 10 (Id. at 6.) 11 Plaintiff may not challenge an allegedly unlawful conviction in a federal civil 12 rights action. Because he is attacking the fact of his conviction and duration of his 13 sentence, plaintiff’s claims must be raised in a petition for writ of habeas corpus. A 14 petition for habeas corpus is a prisoner’s sole judicial remedy when “attacking the 15 validity of the fact or lengthof … confinement.” Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 16 489-90 (1973); Nettles v. Grounds, 830 F.3d 922, 929 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc) (the 17 Supreme Court has held “that habeas is the exclusive vehicle for claims brought by 18 state prisoners that fall within the core of habeas and that such claims may not be 19 brought under § 1983”). In addition, to the extent plaintiff is attempting to seek 20 monetary damages for an allegedly unlawful conviction where success would 21 necessarily implicate the fact or duration of his confinement, his claims are not 22 cognizable under § 1983 unless and until plaintiff can show that “the conviction or 23 sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared 24 invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into 25 1 A judicial defendant is absolutely immune from federal civil rights suits for acts performed in his 26 or her judicial capacity. Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9, 11 (1991); Ashelman v. Pope, 793 F.2d 1072, 1075 (9th Cir. 1986) (en banc). Judicial immunity applies “however erroneous the act may have 27 been, and however injurious in its consequences it may have proved to the plaintiff.” Moore v. 28 Brewster, 96 F.3d 1240, 1244 (9th Cir. 1996). 1 || question by a federal court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus.” Heck v. Humphrey, 2 || 512 U.S. 477, 486-87 (1994). According to the Complaint, he has not done that. 3 Accordingly, the Complaint fails to state a federal civil rights claim, and a 4 || habeas petition is the proper vehicle for challenging an allegedly unlawful 5 | conviction. IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that this action is dismissed without 6 || prejudice and that Judgment be entered accordingly. 7 8 || DATED: July 29, 2020 9 LER Rin 11 ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28