Gamble v. Corrections Corp. of America et al

Filing 11

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER: 1) Bennie L. Gamble, Jr.'s Complaint 1 is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; 2) Court will enter a separate judgment; 3) this matter is STRICKEN from the active docket. Signed by Judge Karen K. Caldwell on 11/27/2012. (RKT) cc: Bennie L. Gamble, Jr. via US mail w/NOE

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
SOUTHERN DIVISION AT PIKEVILLE

BENNIE L. GAMBLE, JR.,

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Plaintiff,
V.
CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF
AMERICA, et al.,
Defendants.
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Civil Action No. 12-CV-79-KKC

MEMORANDUM OPINION
AND ORDER

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Plaintiff Bennie L. Gamble, Jr., is an inmate confined in Northpoint Training Center in
Burgin, Kentucky. Proceeding without counsel, Gamble has filed a civil rights complaint asserting
claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Gamble’s claims stem from events which allegedly occurred
between May 3, 2011, and July 2, 2012, while he was confined in the Otter Creek Correctional
Complex (“OCCC”) in Wheelwright, Kentucky.1
Because Gamble is pursuing this action against government officials, the complaint must be
screened to determine whether it must be dismissed because its claims are frivolous or malicious,
fail to state a claim upon which may be granted, or seek monetary relief from defendants who are
immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. Because Gamble has failed to state a claim upon

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The named defendants are: (1) Corrections Corporation of America (“CCA”); (2) Grady
Perry, OCCC Warden; (3) Lanna Baker; (4) Nolan Newsome; (5) Teresa Esque, OCCC Accounts
Clerk; (6) Rebecca Randolph, OCCC Legal Office Clerk; (7) David Frye; (8) Linda Little, Secretary
to the OCCC Warden; (9) Morgan Newsome, OCCC Records Officer; (10) Lt. Troy Wilson; and
(11) Charlotte Klutey.

which relief can be granted, his § 1983 complaint will be dismissed, and judgment will be entered
in favor of the defendants.
BACKGROUND
Gamble states that on May 3, 2011, he received a Resident Report Card (“RRC”) issued by
the Kentucky Department of Corrections (“KDOC”), and that the RRC not only contained an
allegedly erroneous minimum expiration date, but also referred to a state criminal sentence of his
which the Kentucky Supreme Court had previously reversed. When Gamble notified several OCCC
defendants of the alleged errors, none of them would correct the RRC and instead instructed him to
file a grievance concerning the issue. Gamble states that he filed an administrative grievance
objecting to the RRC and alleging unlawful imprisonment, but that his grievance was denied. When
he complained further about the alleged errors in the RRC, a KDOC official informed him that he
would have to hire a lawyer and file a petition for writ of habeas corpus.
Gamble argues that because the Kentucky Supreme Court reversed his conviction in February
2002, the criminal indictment had no force and effect and his subsequent guilty plea in December
2002 was “void.” He alleges that the defendants have kidnaped him, unlawfully imprisoned him,
and are holding him in “peonage” in violation of his constitutional rights under federal and state law
and numerous state law tort theories. Gamble seeks $1 billion in damages from the defendants.
Gamble provided little information about the state court conviction which he is currently
serving and which he claims was inaccurately represented in the RRC. The attachments to Gamble’s
complaint, combined with public information found in PACER, the federal judiciary’s electronic
database, reveal that on May 13, 1999, Gamble was found guilty of capital murder and first-degree
robbery in the McCracken Circuit Court, and was sentenced to life in prison. Gamble appealed, and
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the Kentucky Supreme Court reversed his conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. Gamble
v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, 68 S.W.3d 367 (Ky. 2002). On October 29, 2002, Gamble entered
into a plea agreement, which he did not appeal, and on December 16, 2002, he was sentenced in the
McCracken Circuit Court to a 27 ½ year prison term. [R. 1-14, pp. 1-2]
On August 1, 2011, Gamble filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Floyd Circuit
Court, arguing that the indictment was defective and that his conviction was void ab initio. The
Floyd Circuit Court determined that Gamble’s allegations were “totally without merit” and denied
his petition. [R. 1-6, p. 1] The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed, stating that “. . . the indictment
clearly alleged that Gamble committed the offenses of murder and first-degree robbery on or about
September 17, 1997. Gamble fails to identify what defects, if any, are contained in his indictment
ruling.” [R. 1-12, pp. 1-2]
On September 19, 2011, Gamble filed a federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28
U.S.C. § 2254, alleging that his guilty plea resulted from unlawful inducement, double jeopardy, and
ineffective assistance of counsel. United States v. Gamble, No. 5:11-CV-159-TBR (W.D. Ky. 2011).
The court dismissed Gamble’s § 2254 petition and denied him a certificate of appealability, finding
that because the one-year statute of limitations set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d)(1) and (2) had not
been tolled, his petition was time-barred, and that Gamble had not exhausted all of his state court
remedies prior to seeking federal habeas relief. Gamble v. Perry, 2012 WL 1227066, at *2-3 (W.D.
Ky. April 11, 2012).
After the dismissal of his § 2254 petition, Gamble filed not only this § 1983 action seeking
damages from the OCCC defendants and the CCA, but also three other §1983 civil rights actions in
the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky collaterally attacking various
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aspects of his criminal conviction. See Gamble v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, No. 3:12-CV-480JGH (W.D. Ky. 2012); Gamble v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, No. 3:12-CV-483-CRS (W.D. Ky.
2012); and Gamble v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, No. 3:12-CV-121-TBR (W.D. Ky. 2012). On
October 1, 2012, Gamble filed another habeas petition in that court, again challenging his
McCracken Circuit Court murder and robbery conviction. Gamble v. Commonwealth of Kentucky,
No. 3:12-CV-616-JGH (W.D. Ky. 2012).
On November 15, 2012, Judge Thomas B. Russell dismissed the § 1983 complaint Gamble
filed against the Paducah Police Department, various McCracken County officials, and the Kentucky
Department of Advocacy, finding that his claims either were time barred or lacked any legal basis.
See Gamble v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, No. 3:12-CV-616-JGH (W.D. Ky. 2012) [D. E. Nos.
6 and 7, therein]. Gamble’s other two § 1983 actions remain pending in that court.
DISCUSSION
To the extent that Gamble alleges in this § 1983 proceeding that he is being “unlawfully
confined” as a result of an invalid criminal conviction, Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994),
prevents Gamble from recovering damages against any of the named defendants because his claim
is in essence nothing but a collateral attack of his criminal conviction. Heck holds 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 [overturned].” Id. at 486-87. In other words, before
Gamble can seek money damages in a federal civil rights proceeding based on an unlawfully
obtained criminal conviction, he must show a favorable termination of his criminal conviction,
which essentially requires him to show that his conviction has been overturned or set aside.
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Gamble cannot demonstrate a favorable termination of his criminal conviction and the
resulting sentence which he is currently serving. Although Gamble’s first murder and robbery
conviction was reversed on appeal and remanded in February 2002, he later pled guilty to the same
offenses and received a 27½ year prison sentence in December 2002. Gamble continues to argue
that because the Kentucky Supreme Court reversed his first conviction and remanded his criminal
case, the indictment charging him with murder and robbery became void, but he mistakenly equates
that reversal with a complete termination of his criminal case. The Kentucky Supreme Court
invalidated his first conviction, but that reversal did not result in the dismissal of the original murder
and robbery charges in the McCracken Circuit Court. Instead of going to trial again, Gamble pleaded
guilty and received a 27½ year sentence, which was less than the sentence he received the first time
he was convicted. Gamble’s second conviction and resulting sentence have not been reversed, set
aside, or called in to question in any state or federal habeas corpus proceeding despite Gamble’s
unsuccessful efforts to collaterally challenge his conviction. Accordingly, Gamble is currently
serving a lawfully imposed sentence, and he has not been kidnaped, forced into peonage, or
unlawfully confined by KDOC officials or any of the defendants he has sued in this § 1983 action.
The Rooker-Feldman doctrine also bars Gamble’s claims against the defendants. Under the
Rooker-Feldman doctrine, federal courts lack jurisdiction to review a case litigated and decided in
state court, as only the United States Supreme Court has jurisdiction to correct state court judgments.
District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 476 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity
Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923); Patmon v. Michigan Supreme Court, 224 F.3d 504, 506-07 (6th Cir.
2000). A party raising a federal question must appeal a state court decision through the state system

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and then proceed directly to the Supreme Court of the United States. Feldman, 460 U.S. at 483 n.16;
Rooker, 263 U.S. at 415-16; United States v. Owens, 54 F.3d 271, 274 (6th Cir. 1995).
Federal courts also lack jurisdiction to review constitutional claims that are inextricably
intertwined with the state court’s decision. Feldman, 460 U.S. at 486-87; Patmon, 224 F.3d at
509-10. A plaintiff’s claims are inextricably intertwined with the state court’s decision if the federal
claims can succeed only to the extent that the state court wrongly decided the issues before it, Catz
v. Chalker, 142 F.3d 279, 293 (6th Cir. 1998), and if the federal claims assert specific challenges to
the state court proceedings, rather than a general challenge to the constitutionality of the state law.
Patmon, 224 F.3d at 509-10; Catz, 142 F.3d at 293.
Gamble’s claims in this action are inextricably intertwined with his state court criminal
conviction, and essentially amount to an impermissible appeal of his state court criminal judgment.
See Payette v. Royal Oak Police Dept., No. 04-CV-10294, 2005 WL 2671333, at *6-7 (E. D. Mich.
September 13, 2005) (dismissing under Heck and Rooker-Feldman doctrines plaintiff’s Fourth
Amendment civil claims challenging his underlying detention, arrest, and criminal conviction).
Gamble can not recover damages in this action because such a recovery would be premised on a
finding that the state court wrongly decided the issues before it, and the Rooker-Feldman doctrine
prohibits such a result. For these reasons, Gamble’s § 1983 complaint fails to state a claim upon
which relief can be granted and will be dismissed.
To the extent that Gamble may be objecting to the specific manner in which his sentence is
being executed, such as the KDOC’s calculation of his maximum or minimum expiration dates, he
can not recover damages in this § 1983 proceeding. To advance such a claim, Gamble must assert
such claims in a state court proceeding, and after exhausting his state court remedies, he may file a
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habeas petition in federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Collins v. Million, 121 F. App’x 628,
630-31 (6th Cir. 2005); Seaton v. Kentucky, 92 F. App’x 174, 175 (6th Cir. 2004); Urbina v. Thoms,
270 F.3d 292, 295 n.1 (6th Cir. 2001).
CONCLUSION
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that:
1.

Bennie L. Gamble, Jr.’s Complaint [R. 1] is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE

for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
2.

The Court will enter a separate judgment.

3.

This matter is STRICKEN from the active docket.

Dated this 27th day of November, 2012.

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