Henderson v. Vertz

District Court, E.D. Wisconsin·Decided August 8, 2023·No. 2:22-cv-00558·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

MICHAEL C. HENDERSON,

Plaintiff, v. Case No. 22-CV-558-JPS

WILLIAM POLLARD, STEVE SCHEULER, JOHN KIND, C.O. ORDER VERTZ, CAPT. VAN LANEN, AL DEGROOT, CINDY O’DONNELL, and EMILY DAVIDSON,

Defendants.

Plaintiff Michael C. Henderson, an inmate confined at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility, filed a pro se complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that Defendants violated his constitutional rights. ECF No. 1. On January 31, 2023, the Court screened Plaintiff’s amended complaint, found that it failed to state a claim, and allowed Plaintiff the opportunity to file an amended complaint. ECF Nos. 9, 14. Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint on February 20, 2023. ECF No. 17. This Order screens Plaintiff’s second amended complaint and addresses his pending motions seeking to preserve evidence and for sanctions. 1. SCREENING THE COMPLAINT 1.1 Federal Screening Standard Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, the Court must screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief from a governmental entity or an officer or employee of a governmental entity. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint if the prisoner raises claims that are legally “frivolous or malicious,” that fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b). In determining whether a complaint states a claim, the Court applies the same standard that applies to dismissals under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). See Cesal v. Moats, 851 F.3d 714, 720 (7th Cir. 2017) (citing Booker-El v. Superintendent, Ind. State Prison, 668 F.3d 896, 899 (7th Cir. 2012)). A complaint must include “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). A complaint must contain enough facts, accepted as true, to “state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows a court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556). To state a claim for relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must allege that someone deprived him of a right secured by the Constitution or the laws of the United States and that whoever deprived him of this right was acting under the color of state law. D.S. v. E. Porter Cnty. Sch. Corp., 799 F.3d 793, 798 (7th Cir. 2015) (citing Buchanan–Moore v. County of Milwaukee, 570 F.3d 824, 827 (7th Cir. 2009)). The Court construes pro se complaints liberally and holds them to a less stringent standard than pleadings drafted by lawyers. Cesal, 851 F.3d at 720 (citing Perez v. Fenoglio, 792 F.3d 768, 776 (7th Cir. 2015)). 1.2 Plaintiff’s Allegations Plaintiff’s allegations relate to incidents that occurred at Green Bay Correctional Institution (“GBCI”) in the Restrictive Housing Unit (“RHU”). ECF No. 17 at 2. Plaintiff names Defendants William Pollard (“Pollard”), Steve Schueler (“Schueler”), John Kind, (“Kind”), C.O. Vertz (“Vertz”), Jay VanLanen (“VanLanen”), Al DeGroot (“DeGroot”), Cindy O’Donnell (“O’Donnell”), and Emily Davidson (“Davidson). Id. at 1. On January 11, 2019, at approximately 3:30 p.m., Plaintiff received documents related to his post-conviction legal materials. Id. at 5. Among other things, the documents included a screenshot of disc no. 53 containing May 28, 2014 Watertown Parking Lot Homicide-Robbery videos. Id. Vertz screened this disc and commented, “Video contains the following: Homicide not committed by this inmate identified.” Id. at 6. Plaintiff also received a property receipt, dated January 11, 2019, stating, “DFLM (27 DVD/CD’s) rejected because they are not compatible, would not open on available computers…” and that per policy, the CDs would be destroyed. Id. Plaintiff reviewed the documents and was confused as to why the property department supervisor had both non-working digitally formatted legal materials (“DFLM”) and working legal DFLM. Id. Plaintiff was also concerned that his legal disc no. 53 was accessed by the property supervisor. Id. Plaintiff wrote to Vertz about the disc by using a DOC-76 interview/information request form. Id.at 7. Plaintiff wrote, “COII Vertz, you can’t just receive discs (DFLM) and take it upon yourself to review them outside of my presence, if that disc pertains to me. You literally broke the very policy #300.0067(1)(D)…These screenshots only prove to me that content is on the disc I have a right to actually view it too.” Id. On January 12, 20219 at approximately 4:51 p.m., Plaintiff sent a second DOC-761 form to Vertz and requested that he send Plaintiff the materials labeled “Watertown Robbery etc.” so that he could prepare a legal case against those responsible. Id. at 3. Vertz responded and Plaintiff received another photocopy of legal disc No. 53. Id. On January 13, 2019, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Plaintiff wrote a DOC-761 to Van Lanen about the destruction of his property. Id. At some point later, Van Lanen arrived at Plaintiff’s cell to discuss the issue. Id. at 8. Plaintiff told Van Lanen that the disk was part of an ongoing investigation, and that Plaintiff was the victim of crimes depicted in the video. Id. Van Lanen said he would go talk to Vertz and see the disc. Id. On January 14, 2019, Plaintiff sent a DOC-761 form to Schueler about Vertz denying him access to the court. Id. at 4. Plaintiff alleges the disc contained evidence of an assault with a deadly weapon and armed robbery that was committed against him on May 28, 2014. Id. Plaintiff needed the disc to provide it to the authorities for prosecution. Id. at 9. On January 16, 2019, at approximately 7:02 a.m., Plaintiff wrote to Kind to prevent Vertz from destroying his disc. Id. On January 17, 2019, at approximately 11:28 a.m., Plaintiff sent a second DOC-761 form to Schueler about his disc and access to courts. Id. At approximately 6:41 p.m. that day, Plaintiff sent a DOC-761 form to Pollard to notify him of the situation. Id. at 10. At Plaintiff’s criminal trial, there was “chatter” on whether Plaintiff had been robbed and this video was proof to show his version of events. Id. Plaintiff avers that he needed this video in part to show that his trial counsel had been ineffective for not locating it prior to trial. On January 27, 2019, Plaintiff submitted an inmate complaint in an attempt to prevent the property department from destroying his post- conviction materials. Id. at 11.

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