Opinion
3:23-CV-279-RLM-MGG
08-18-2023
MAURICE DESHON RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v. ST JOSEPH COUNTY, et al., Defendants.
OPINION AND ORDER
ROBERT L. MILLER, JR. JUDGE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT.
Maurice Deshon Richmond, a prisoner without a lawyer, filed a complaint alleging he was held in the St. Joseph County Jail past his release date. The court screened the complaint and found it didn't state a claim for which relief could be granted, but granted Mr. Richmond leave to file an amended complaint. He has now filed an amended complaint. The court must review the merits of a prisoner complaint and dismiss it if the action is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A. “A document filed pro se is to be liberally construed, and a pro se complaint, however inartfully pleaded, must be held to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.” Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (quotation marks and citations omitted).
Mr. Richmond's amended complaint presents the same allegations against the same defendants. He also attaches several exhibits. The exhibits show he was being held for two criminal cases: 71D01-2208-F6-670 and 71D01-1707-F6-685. In the first case, on October 26, 2022, the court ordered “The Defendant . . . released from the custody of the St. Joseph County Jail under this Cause.” ECF 12-1 at 3. Mr. Richmond believes he should have gotten out of jail on that date, but that order only applied to the charge in the 670 case. He was still being held for the 685 case. In it, the court explained on December 1, 2022, that “bond was not set on this Cause” - which is why he had not been released or permitted to bond out. Id. at 2. The defendants didn't hold Mr. Richmond past his release date because the court didn't release him from the 685 case until December 1, 2022, when it found “there is no longer a parole hold. Therefore, on this Cause . . . the Court now orders the Defendant to be released from the St. Joseph County Jail on his own recognizance.” Id. at 2.
For these reasons, this case is DISMISSED under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A because the amended complaint does not state a claim for which relief can be granted.
SO ORDERED.