CAMILO v. LEOPIZZI

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedFebruary 16, 2021
Docket2:20-cv-14937
StatusUnknown

This text of CAMILO v. LEOPIZZI (CAMILO v. LEOPIZZI) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CAMILO v. LEOPIZZI, (D.N.J. 2021).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY JOSE CAMILO Civil Action No. 20-14937 (MCA) Plaintiff,

v. MEMORANDUM OPINION HONORABLE BRUNO L. LEOPIZZI, et & ORDER al., Defendants.

Pro se Plaintiff Jose Camilo, (“Plaintiff”), a convicted state prisoner presently incarcerated at East Jersey State Prison, has filed a pro se Complaint alleging violations of his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See ECF No. 1. At this time, the Court will grant Plaintiff’s application to proceed in forma pauperis. ECF No. 1-1. Federal law requires this Court to screen Plaintiff’s Complaint for sua sponte dismissal

prior to service, and to dismiss any claim if that claim fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and/or to dismiss any defendant who is immune from suit. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). For the reasons explained herein, the Complaint is dismissed in its entirety pursuant to the Court’s screening authority. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The instant Complaint raises civil rights claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and a civil conspiracy pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1985, 1986, arising from an allegedly illegal sentence imposed in connection with Plaintiff’s 1982 murder conviction (“the illegal sentence claim”). Plaintiff has also sued the New Jersey State Parole Board for denying parole on several occasions (the “parole denial claim”), and the New Jersey State Court Appellate Panel that affirmed the denial of parole. Specifically, Plaintiff has sued the Honorable Bruno L. Leopizzi for allegedly abusing his authority in relying on illegal statements from witnesses and sentencing Plaintiff to an allegedly

illegal extended life sentence on September 15, 1982. See Complaint at 5-6, 10. Plaintiff has also sued the Honorable Miguel A. De La Carrera, J.S.C. for refusing to vacate the illegal sentence. In addition, Plaintiff has sued the Honorable Randolph M. Subryan, J.S.C. and the Honorable Adolph A. Romei for vacating a portion of the illegal sentence but leaving the remaining illegal sentence intact. See id. at 6, 11, 15. Plaintiff appears to assert that his sentence is the result of systemic racism. See id. at 12. Plaintiff faults the New Jersey State Parole Board for relying on “illegal statements,” in denying parole, and also alleges retaliation and racial bias by the Parole Board: These [illegal] statements were used in whole and in part to issue the petitioner an additional twenty (20) year, two-hundred and forty ( 240) month death sentence. A new sentence and when the petitioner successfully had the Future Eligibility Term or the New sentence vacated, the parole board in a retaliatory and racially biased attempt to seek retribution against the petitioner, issued a sixteen (16) year and eight month (200 month) Future Eligibility Term, which at the petitioners current age of sixty-four ( 64) and the current Covid 19 (Corona Virus) pandemic is in fact a death sentence. See id. at 12. Plaintiff also sues the New Jersey Appellate Division Panel1 that affirmed the denial of parole. See id. at 12. He alleges that the panel upheld the allegedly illegal sentence and the alleged racial bias and retaliatory conduct of the Parole Board. See id; see also Complaint at 15.

1 The New Jersey Appellate Panel and Judge Leopizzi, Judge De La Carrera, Judge Subryan, and Judge Romei are collectively referred to as the “Judicial Defendants.” Plaintiff also appears to sue the prosecutor in his criminal case, Ronald G. Marmo, because he “never made a written application for a discretionary motion for an extended term of imprisonment under N.J.C.R. R. 3:21-4(e), which the judge used in his statement of [reasons] to issue the extended term of confinement. . . . . [and] knew or should have known that the Court

Rule did not apply to petitioner[.]” See id. at 13. Plaintiff also appears to sue his criminal defense attorney Anthony Fusco Jr. for allegedly assisting the State and the Court in violating the petitioner’s constitutional rights, as Fusco knew that the court’s imposition of an extended sentence was illegal because the state had not applied for an extended term. See id. at 14. Plaintiff seeks punitive and compensatory damages. See Complaint at 8. He does not specifically seek equitable relief, such a new parole hearing. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW The legal standard for dismissing a complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii) is the same as the standard for dismissing a complaint pursuant to

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Schreane v. Seana, 506 F. App’x 120, 122 (3d Cir. 2012). That standard is set forth in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007). To survive the Court’s screening for failure to state a claim, the complaint must allege “sufficient factual matter to show that the claim is facially plausible.” Fowler v. UPMC Shadyside, 578 F.3d 203, 210 (3d Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678; see also Fair Wind Sailing, Inc. v. Dempster, 764 F.3d 303, 308 n.3 (3d Cir. 2014). “A pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.’” Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678 (quoting Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). III. ANALYSIS a. Habeas vs. Civil Rights Actions

Because Plaintiff appears to challenge the results of his criminal proceedings, the Court begins by explaining when a challenge to a criminal proceeding must be brought in a habeas action and when it may be brought as either a habeas or civil rights action. The United States Supreme Court has held that a prisoner in state custody cannot use a § 1983 action to challenge “the fact or duration of his confinement.” Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489 (1973); see also Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 554 (1974); Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 481 (1994); Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 648 (1997). Instead, he or she must seek federal habeas corpus relief (or appropriate state relief). See Wilkinson v. Dotson, 544 U.S. 74, 78 (2005). These Supreme Court decisions stand for the proposition that prisoners may “use only habeas corpus (or similar state) remedies when they seek to invalidate the duration of their

confinement—either directly through an injunction compelling speedier release or indirectly through a judicial determination that necessarily implies the unlawfulness of the State’s custody.” Wilkinson, 544 U.S. at 81.

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Bluebook (online)
CAMILO v. LEOPIZZI, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/camilo-v-leopizzi-njd-2021.