Opinion
CIVIL ACTION H-15-1052
05-08-2015
JAVARROW YOUNG, HCJ 2426649, Plaintiff, v. DEVON ANDERSON. Defendant.
Opinion on Dismissal
Javarrow Young sues Harris County prosecutor Devon Anderson for civil rights violations. 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He moves to proceed as a pauper. 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Young is held in the Harris County Jail under a charge of assaulting Ray Hopson. Ten days after he brought charges, Hopson told authorities he had lied. The charges were dropped. Later, he made a formal, written confession admitting that he had lied and signed papers to drop the charges. Young was nonetheless indicted on March 9, 2015. Hopson never went before a grand for his lies nor to give testimony which would exonerate Young and punish the accuser for filing a false police report. Young seeks dismissal of the charges and injunctive relief because a "false police report" was filed against him.
A civil rights claim for damages which challenges the validity of a conviction or custody cannot proceed unless the conviction or confinement has been held invalid. Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 487 (1994). Heck applies to claims for injunctive relief that imply the invalidity of a conviction or custody. Kutzner v. Montgomery County, 303 F.3d 339, 340-41 (5th Cir. 2002). Young's claims implicate the validity of his extended custody. There is no showing his confinement has been invalidated. The holdings in Heck and Kutzner bar Young's claims and his requests for relief.
Young fails to state a claim recognized at law under Heck. This case will be dismissed.
Signed May 8, 2015, at Houston, Texas.
/s/_________
Lynn N. Hughes
United States District Judge