Turner v. Holder ( 2012 )

FILED
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA JUN- 7 2012
Clerk, U.S. District & Bankruptcy
Courts for the District of Columbia
HA YZEN TURNER, JR., )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
V. ) Civil Action No. 12 0927
)
ERIC HOLDER, )
U.S. Attorney General, )
)
Defendant. )
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on the plaintiffs application to proceed in forma pauperis
and his pro se complaint. The Court will grant the application and dismiss the complaint.
It appears that the plaintiff is serving a term of imprisonment imposed by the United
States District for the Northern District of Alabama upon his conviction of various drug and
firearms offenses. See Compl. at 4. He claims that the statutes under which he was prosecuted
and sentenced "[have] never been passed by Congress," id. at 5, rendering the "Federal
Indictment ... invalid," id. at 8, and causing him "to be ... falsely imprisoned." !d. The
plaintiff brings a claim against the Attorney General under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents
ofthe Federal Bureau ofNarcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), 1 and asks the Court to declare the
statutes invalid and to order his immediate release. !d. at 43-44.
The plaintiffs challenges to the statutes and his incarceration must be presented to the
sentencing court in a motion under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Taylor v. US. Bd. of Parole, 194 F.2d
882, 883 (D.C. Cir. 1952) (stating that a motion under Section 2255 is the proper vehicle for
Bivens recognized a cause of action for damages against federal officials acting under
color of their authority who violate a claimant's constitutional rights.
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challenging the constitutionality of a statute under which a defendant is convicted). Section
2255 provides specifically that:
[a] prisoner in custody under sentence of a court established by Act
of Congress claiming the right to be released upon the ground that
the sentence was imposed in violation of the Constitution or laws
of the United States, or that the court was without jurisdiction to
impose such sentence, or that the sentence was in excess of the
maximum authorized by law, or is otherwise subject to collateral
attack, may move the court which imposed the sentence to vacate,
set aside or correct the sentence.
28 U.S.C. § 2255(a) (emphasis added). And because plaintiff's claim goes to the fact ofhis
incarceration, he cannot recover damages in this civil rights action without showing that his
confinement already has been invalidated by "revers[al] on direct appeal, expunge[ment] by
executive order, declar[ ation of invalidity] by a state tribunal authorized to make such
determination, or ... a federal court's issuance of a writ of habeas corpus." Heck v. Humphrey,
512 U.S. 477,486-87 (1994); accord White v. Bowie, 194 F.3d 175 (D.C. Cir. 1999) (table).
The court will dismiss the complaint. An Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
United States District Judge
DATE: 5/51/ft-