Dorsey v. State of Texas Judiciary System, Penal System et al

Filing 6

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER dismissing with prejudice 1 Complaint, granting 2 APPLICATION to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. (Signed by Judge Sim Lake) Parties notified. (aboyd, 4)

United States District Court
Southern District of Texas

ENTERED
January 03, 2018

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
HOUSTON DIVISION

STEVIE LEE DORSEY,
SPN #0064731,

§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§

Plaintiff,

v.
TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS, et al.,
Defendants.

David J. Bradley, Clerk

CIVIL ACTION NO. H-17-3824

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

The plaintiff, Stevie Lee Dorsey, is currently in custody at
the Harris County Jail.
alleging

civil

("Complaint")

Dorsey has filed a hand-written complaint

rights

violations

(Docket Entry No.

under

42

U.S.C.

Dorsey has

1) .

also

1983

§

filed an

Application to Proceed in District Court Without Prepaying Fees or
Costs

(Docket Entry No. 2).

court

is

required

to

Because Dorsey is incarcerated, the

scrutinize

the

claims

and

dismiss

the

Complaint, in whole or in part, if it determines that the Complaint
"is frivolous,

malicious,

or fails

to state a claim upon which

relief may be granted" or "seeks monetary relief from a defendant
who is immune from such relief."
considering all of the pleadings,

2 8 U. S.C.

§

1915A (b) .

After

the court concludes that this

case must be dismissed for the reasons explained below.

Background

I .

Dorsey

is

presently

in

pending criminal charges
County,

Texas,

1563787. 1

for

custody at

the

Harris

County

Jail

in the 338th District Court of Harris

assault

on

a

family

member

in

Cause

No.

The State of Texas has enhanced the indictment in that

case for purposes of punishment with allegations that, before the
charged offense was committed on September 4, 2017, Dorsey had been
convicted of assault on a family member in two prior cases: Cause
No. 1137699 in the 338th District Court for Harris County (2008);
and

Cause

No.

County, Texas

1284453

in

the

177th

District

Court

for

Harris

(2011) . 2

Dorsey has filed this lawsuit against the Texas Department of
Corrections,

the

"State

of

Texas

Judiciary

System,"

two

state

district judges (Kevin Fine and Brock Thomas) who formerly presided
over the 177th and 338th District Courts, and unidentified Harris
County prosecutors who were assigned to those courts when Dorsey's
prior convictions in Cause Nos. 1137699 and 1284453 were entered in
2008

and

2011. 3

With

regard

to

his

prior

convictions,

Dorsey

contends that he was unlawfully charged, convicted, and sentenced
to

a

"concurrent"

two-year

term

of

imprisonment

in

Cause

No.

1284453 while he was still serving the sentence that he received in

1

Indictment, Docket Entry No. 1-1, p. 1.

2

Id.

3

Complaint, Docket Entry No. 1, pp. 1-2.
-2-

Cause No. 1137699. 4
resulted

in

Arguing that the charges in Cause No. 1284453

"Double

Billing,"

Dorsey

contends

that

he

was

improperly punished twice for the same offense in violation of the
Double

Jeopardy

provisions. 5

Clause

several

and

Invoking 42 U.S.C.

other

constitutional

1983, Dorsey seeks compensatory

§

and punitive damages for his wrongful conviction and the two-year
term of imprisonment that he received in Cause No. 1284453. 6
II.

Discussion

Dorsey's civil rights Complaint,

which primarily concerns a

conviction that was entered against him in 2011, is subject to the
two-year

statute

of

limitations

provided

by

Texas

law.

See

Piotrowski v. City of Houston, 237 F.3d 567, 576 (5th Cir. 2001);
TEX. CIV. PRAC.

&

REM. CODE ANN.

16.003(a).

§

Because Dorsey waited

more than two years to file suit from the time his claims accrued,
his Complaint under 42 U.S.C.
legally frivolous.

1983 is untimely and therefore

§

See Gartell v. Gaylor, 981 F.2d 254, 256 (5th

Cir. 1993).
Dorsey's Complaint fails to state a viable claim for a number
of other alternative reasons.
against
agency

the Texas
now

known

4

the

Texas

Department

Id. at 4.

6

as

of Corrections,

Id. at 3.

5

Department

Dorsey's claims for monetary damages

Id. at 5.
-3-

of

which

is

Criminal

a

state

Justice

("TDCJ"), are barred by the Eleventh Amendment.

See Martinez v.

Texas Dep't of Criminal Justice, 300 F.3d 567, 574 (5th Cir. 2002).
To the extent that Dorsey also appears to sue the State of Texas
for its judicial system,

the Eleventh Amendment also bars those

claims.
Dorsey cannot recover monetary damages

from the individual

state district judges named in the Complaint because "[j]udicial
officers are entitled to absolute immunity from claims for damages
arising out of acts performed in the exercise of their judicial
functions." Boyd v. Biggers, 31 F.3d 279, 284 (5th Cir. 1994).

It

is also well established that prosecutors are entitled to absolute
immunity from civil rights claims for actions taken in the scope of
their duties in initiating and pursuing a criminal prosecution.
See Van de Kamp v. Goldstein,
Burns v. Reed, 111 S. Ct. 1934

129 S. Ct.

855,

861

(2009)

(citing

(1991) and Kalina v. Fletcher, 118

S. Ct. 502 (1997)); see also Imbler v. Pachtman, 96 S. Ct. 984, 995
(1976)

(holding that prosecutors are absolutely immune from a civil

suit for damages for initiating a prosecution and in presenting the
state's case).

Because Dorsey's allegations are insufficient to

overcome

these

individual

immunity,

his

claims

defendants'

against

the

entitlement

state

to

district

absolute

judges

and

prosecutors assigned to the 177th and 338th District Courts for
Harris County must be dismissed.
Dorsey

cannot

otherwise

recover

money

damages

based

on

allegations of "unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for
-4-

other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a
conviction or sentence invalid," without first proving that the
challenged conviction or sentence has been "reversed on direct
appeal,

expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state

tribunal authorized to make such determinations,

or called into

question by a federal court's issuance of a writ of habeas corpus
[under] 28 U.S.C.
(1994).

§

2254."

Heck v. Humphrey, 114 S. Ct. 2364, 2372

It is evident from the pleadings and exhibits that the

challenged

conviction

has

not

been

set

aside

or

invalidated.

Because Dorsey does not demonstrate that the challenged conviction
has been invalidated, his civil rights claims are not cognizable
under 42 U.S.C.
prejudice.
1996)

§

1983 and his Complaint must be dismissed with

See Johnson v. McElveen, 101 F.3d 423,

424

(5th Cir.

(explaining that claims barred by Heck are "dismissed with

prejudice to their being asserted again until the Heck conditions
are met").

Accordingly, this case will be dismissed for failure to

state a claim upon which relief may be granted under 42 U.S.C.
§
§

1983

and

as

legally

frivolous

for

purposes

of

28

U.S.C.

1915A (b) .
III.

Conclusion and Order

Based on the foregoing, the court ORDERS as follows:
1.

The Application to Proceed in District Court
Without Prepaying Fees or Costs (Docket Entry No.
2) is GRANTED.

2.

Officials at the Harris County Jail are directed to
deduct the filing fee for indigent litigants
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($350. 00) from the Inmate Trust Fund account of
Stevie Lee Dorsey (SPN #00647731), in periodic
installments pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b), and
forward those funds to the Clerk of Court until the
entire fee is paid.
3.

Dorsey's Complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
Entry No. 1) is DISMISSED with prejudice.

(Docket

4.

The dismissal will count as a strike for purposes
of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).

The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Memorandum
Opinion and Order to the plaintiff.

The Clerk will also provide a

copy of this order by regular mail or electronic mail to:

(1) the

Harris County Jail Inmate Trust Fund, Attn: Sergeant Tom Katz, 1200
Baker Street, Houston, Texas, 77002, phone:

(713)

713-755-4546;

Strikes

and

(2)

the

Three

755-8436, fax:
List

at

[e-mail].
SIGNED at Houston, Texas, on this

1...t

~

day of

LAKE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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