Barnes v. Hanford Superior Court Judge

District Court, E.D. California·Decided April 21, 2020·No. 1:20-cv-00390·Unknown

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10

11 ANTOINE DESHAWN BARNES, Case No. 1:20-cv-00390-AWI-SAB

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF LEAVE TO FILE A SECOND AMENDED 13 v. COMPLAINT

14 HANFORD SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE, et (ECF No. 16) al., Defendants. 16

17 18 Antoine Deshawn Barnes (“Plaintiff”) is appearing pro se and in forma pauperis in this 19 civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Currently before the Court is Plaintiff’s first 20 amended complaint, filed April 15, 2020. 21 I. 23 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief against a 24 governmental entity or officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). 25 The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if the prisoner has raised claims that are 26 legally “frivolous or malicious,” that “fail[] to state a claim on which relief may be granted,” or 27 that “seek[] monetary relief against a defendant who is immune from such relief.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). 1 A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 2 pleader is entitled to relief. . . .” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). Detailed factual allegations are not 3 required, but “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 4 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell 5 Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007)). Moreover, Plaintiff must demonstrate 6 that each defendant personally participated in the deprivation of Plaintiff’s rights. Jones v. 7 Williams, 297 F.3d 930, 934 (9th Cir. 2002). 8 Prisoners proceeding pro se in civil rights actions are entitled to have their pleadings 9 liberally construed and to have any doubt resolved in their favor. Wilhelm v. Rotman, 680 F.3d 10 1113, 1121 (9th Cir. 2012) (citations omitted). To survive screening, Plaintiff’s claims must be 11 facially plausible, which requires sufficient factual detail to allow the Court to reasonably infer 12 that each named defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678-79; Moss 13 v. U.S. Secret Service, 572 F.3d 962, 969 (9th Cir. 2009). The “sheer possibility that a defendant 14 has acted unlawfully” is not sufficient, and “facts that are ‘merely consistent with’ a defendant’s 15 liability” falls short of satisfying the plausibility standard. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; Moss, 572 16 F.3d at 969. 17 II. 19 The Court accepts Plaintiff’s allegations in the complaint as true only for the purpose of 20 the sua sponte screening requirement under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. Plaintiff is in the custody of the 21 Kings County Sheriff. It is unclear whether Plaintiff is a pretrial detainee, however in his most 22 recent motion to proceed in forma pauperis, Plaintiff states that he will be transferring to prison 23 soon. (ECF No. 9.) Plaintiff’s complaint is vague and composed mainly of argument. The 24 Court recites the facts contained within the first amended complaint (“FAC”). 25 Plaintiff was on suicide watch in cell 7 and was being watched by a black nurse. Nurse 26 Mattos stated in her report that she was sitting outside cell 5 watching inmate Anderson who was 27 on suicide watch. 1 Plaintiff had a preliminary hearing in case no. 18cm51151 on February 10, 2020. Judge 2 Roberts, the Kings County Prosecutor, and Plaintiff’s attorney, Mr. Trevino, asked Nurse Mattos, 3 who was under oath, three times if she was the exact nurse sitting outside Plaintiff’s cell on the 4 day of the alleged 314.2 Three times Nurse Mattos stated that she was the nurse. Judge Roberts 5 stated on the record that he believed her and found Plaintiff guilty of a 314.3 Judge Roberts did 6 not have a CDCR report contradicting Nurse Mattos testimony.4 Plaintiff alleges that Nurse 7 Mattos was sitting three cells away and Judge Roberts allowed her to commit perjury. 8 Nancy Pelosi sent Plaintiff an email asking him for a favor in President Trump’s 9 impeachment. Plaintiff sent her an email in return asking her to vacate his case and have the 10 Federal Bureau of Investigation do an investigation of Judge Roberts and the Kings County 11 District Attorney’s Office. A few days later, Plaintiff was remanded into custody and denied 12 release on his own recognizance. 13 Plaintiff had a judge by the name of Roberts in an old case in Hayward that was heard in 14 the Superior Court of Alameda County and a case in the Salinas Superior Court. Now, this is the 15 third Judge Roberts that has sat on one of Plaintiff’s cases. 16 Plaintiff brings this action against Judge Roberts and the CCPOA District Attorneys 17 Union alleging violation of the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, malicious 18 prosecution and double jeopardy. He is seeking one million dollars and for the court to 19 immediately order the Federal Bureau of Investigations to conduct a field investigation inquiry 20 into the “CCPOA plot, conspiracy of CDCR’s involvement in all district attorneys unions listed 21 1 In an April 3, 2020 screening order granting Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint, the Court took judicial 22 notice of Plaintiff’s criminal case proceeding in the Kings County Superior Court. See Superior Court of California, County of Kings, Case Information for 18CM-5115, The People of the State of California v. Antoine D. Barnes, 23 available at https://cakingsportal.tylerhost.net/CAKINGSPROD/Home/WorkspaceMode?p=0, search case no. 18cm5115 (last visited April 17, 2020). 24 2 The Court assumes that Plaintiff is referencing section 314 of the California Penal Code which prohibits “willfully 25 and lewdly” exhibiting a person or his private parts where there are others present to be offended or annoyed. Cal. Pen. Code § 314.

26 3 Although Plaintiff states that Judge Roberts found him guilty, the preliminary hearing finding determined whether there was sufficient evidence for Plaintiff to be bound over for trial and the charges that will be tried. People v. 27 Lopez, 26 Cal.App.5th 382, 389 (2018), as modified (Aug. 20, 2018). 1 in this amended complaint.” (FAC 8, ECF No. 17.) 4 Plaintiff’s vague and conclusory allegations of plots, hate crime, conspiracy, retaliation, 5 malicious prosecution, and double jeopardy are not sufficient to state a claim in this action. As 6 Plaintiff was previously advised in the April 3, 2020 screening order, he cannot state a claim by 7 setting forth conclusory allegations that are unsupported by any factual allegations.

8 Under Twombly and Iqbal “a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.” Iqbal, 556 9 U.S. at 678. This requires factual content for the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the alleged misconduct. Id. A complaint 10 stops short of the line between probability and the possibility of relief where the facts pled are merely consistent with a defendant’s liability. Id. Further, while 11 the court is to accept all “well pleaded factual allegations” in the complaint as true, id.

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