Cameron Doyle Church v. Barry Breslow, et al.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedDecember 30, 2025
Docket3:24-cv-00579
StatusUnknown

This text of Cameron Doyle Church v. Barry Breslow, et al. (Cameron Doyle Church v. Barry Breslow, et al.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cameron Doyle Church v. Barry Breslow, et al., (D. Nev. 2025).

Opinion

2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

3 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

4 CAMERON DOYLE CHURCH, Case No. 3:24-cv-00579-ART-CSD 5 Plaintiff, ORDER 6 v. (ECF Nos. 14, 19) 7 BARRY BRESLOW, et al.,

8 Defendants.

9 10 Plaintiff Cameron Church sues Defendants on a variety of constitutional, 11 statutory, and tort claims, all relating to Mr. Church’s criminal process in state 12 court, State v. Church, CR23-0657 (Nev. 2nd Jud. Dist. Ct. filed Mar. 17, 2023). 13 (ECF No. 5.) Defendants are Deputy District Attorney Aziz Merchant, the Washoe 14 County District Attorney’s Office, the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office, 15 and Washoe County. All defendants joined a Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject 16 matter jurisdiction, insufficient process, and failure to state a claim. (ECF No. 17 14.) Mr. Church also filed a petition for habeas corpus. (ECF No. 19.) The Court 18 now grants Defendants’ motion and dismisses Mr. Church’s complaint for lack of 19 subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. The Court also 20 dismisses Mr. Church’s habeas petition, with leave to re-file in a separate action. 21 Background 22 On September 8, 2023, Mr. Church was charged by information in the 23 Second Judicial District of Nevada with Grand Larceny of a Motor Vehicle in 24 violation of NRS 205.228 and Unlawful Taking of a Motor Vehicle in violation of 25 NRS 205.2715. (ECF No. 14-3.) He entered a plea of not guilty to both charges. 26 (ECF No. 14-4.) Although represented, Mr. Church filed a number of pro per 27 motions alleging misconduct by his counsel, the prosecutor, and the judge. (ECF 28 No. 14-5.) Over time, several of these motions were struck as fugitive documents. 1 (ECF Nos. 14-6, 14-12, 14-13.) On Mr. Church’s behalf, his counsel, Galen 2 Carrico, motioned for a hearing pursuant to Young v. State, 102 P.3d 572 (2004), 3 because Mr. Church believed that Mr. Carrico had not adequately negotiated his 4 case or protected his interests. (ECF No. 14-10.) Mr. Carrico added that in his 5 own view, a “substantial breakdown in communication” made representation 6 “untenable.” (Id.) 7 The court held a hearing to address the Young motion and other matters 8 on December 5, 2024. Mr. Church states in his amended federal complaint that 9 the malfeasance of Defendants at this hearing is “central to this case.” (ECF No. 10 5.) In the hearing, presiding Judge Barry Breslow ordered Mr. Church not to file 11 anything without his counsel or risk contempt of court. (ECF No. 14-14.) After a 12 sealed Young hearing, Judge Breslow ordered a competency evaluation for Mr. 13 Church and stayed the case pending the results. (Id.) The stated purpose of the 14 competency evaluation was to determine if Mr. Church had the ability to “1. 15 Understand the nature of the criminal charges against him; 2. Understand the 16 nature and purpose of the court proceedings; or 3. Aid and assist his counsel in 17 the defense with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.” (Id.) Four days 18 later, on December 9, 2024, the Court reduced its order for a competency 19 evaluation to writing, dating the written order nunc pro tunc to the day of the 20 hearing. (ECF No. 14-15.) 21 Several days later, Mr. Church having failed to comply with the competency 22 evaluation, Judge Breslow ordered him to show cause why his pretrial release 23 should not be revoked, and set a hearing on that Order to Show Cause for 24 December 17, 2024. (ECF No. 14-16.) Mr. Church did not attend the December 25 17, 2024 hearing. (ECF Nos. 5, 14-17.) In his absence, the court revoked his 26 pretrial release, issued a bench warrant for his arrest, and placed him on a no- 27 bail hold. (ECF Nos. 14-17, 14-18.) A competency evaluation was again ordered 28 in writing on April 25, 2025, and dated nunc pro tunc to the previous day. (ECF 1 No. 14-22.) 2 Mr. Church has come to federal court alleging twelve causes of action for 3 constitutional violations, federal and state RICO violations, intentional infliction 4 of emotional distress, obstruction of justice, spoilation of evidence, and violations 5 of public records laws. (ECF No. 5.) He seeks compensatory, punitive, and treble 6 damages, declaratory and injunctive relief, sanctions against defendants, and 7 adverse inference jury instructions regarding spoliated evidence. (Id.) He alleges 8 that at the December 5, 2024 hearing, Judge Breslow improperly threatened him 9 with contempt for filing pro se motions, ordered a competency evaluation without 10 basis, and excluded favorable witnesses and evidence in an off-the-record 11 proceeding. (Id.) Mr. Church states that the Order to Show Cause for his 12 noncompliance with the first order for a competency evaluation was premature. 13 (Id.) He claims that the bench warrant and no-bail hold, issued subsequent to his 14 failure to attend the hearing on the order to show cause, were illegal retaliation 15 for filing the instant federal lawsuit on December 16, 2024. (Id.) He further alleges 16 that all other defendants, including the District Attorney’s office and his defense 17 counsel, colluded with Judge Breslow to deprive him of his rights. (Id.) 18 Mr. Church’s claims against Judge Breslow and several other parties have 19 been dismissed for lack of service (ECF No. 39), and the only remaining claims 20 are against Washoe County, the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office, the 21 Washoe County District Attorney, and Deputy District Attorney Aziz Merchant. 22 Mr. Church claims that the Washoe County Public Defender’s Office assigned 23 incompetent counsel to his case and failed to effectively oversee Mr. Carrico. (ECF 24 No. 5.) In turn, Mr. Church alleges that Mr. Carrico failed to diligently represent 25 him in violation of NRPC Rule 1.3, filed the Young motion contrary to Mr. 26 Church’s instructions in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to effective 27 assistance of counsel, misrepresented facts and Mr. Church’s legal position in 28 connection with the Young motion, failed to challenge the court’s unwarranted 1 competency evaluation order and threats of contempt, and colluded with the 2 prosecution to delay proceedings, suppress evidence, and obstruct Mr. Church’s 3 defense in violation of state and federal RICO. (Id.) Mr. Church claims that Deputy 4 District Attorney Aziz Merchant colluded with defense counsel and the court to 5 suppress exculpatory evidence, retaliated against him by, for example, filing a 6 premature motion for an Order to Show Cause, and violated his ethical 7 obligations to seek justice. (Id.) Mr. Church sues the Washoe County District 8 Attorney’s Office for enabling Mr. Merchant’s prosecutorial misconduct and 9 colluding with defense counsel to suppress Mr. Church’s defense. (Id.) Finally, 10 Mr. Church sues Washoe County under Monell for maintaining policies and 11 practices that enable constitutional violations such as retaliation, procedural 12 violations, and obstruction of justice. (Id.) He further claims that Defendants 13 failed to preserve, concealed, or destroyed records relevant to his defenses or 14 claims, and ignored or rerouted FOIA requests. (Id.) 15 Legal Standard 16 Defendants challenge this Court’s subject matter jurisdiction to hear 17 Plaintiffs’ case. (ECF No. 14.) A defendant may seek dismissal of a claim for lack 18 of subject matter jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1). The party asserting 19 claims in federal court bears the burden of demonstrating the court’s jurisdiction 20 over those claims.

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