Lee v. Purpero

816 F. Supp. 498, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4340, 1993 WL 93563
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedFebruary 26, 1993
DocketNo. 91-C-1318
StatusPublished

This text of 816 F. Supp. 498 (Lee v. Purpero) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Purpero, 816 F. Supp. 498, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4340, 1993 WL 93563 (E.D. Wis. 1993).

Opinion

DECISION and ORDER

MYRON L. GORDON, Senior District Judge.

Pro se plaintiff, Robert Anthony Lee, presently incarcerated at the Waupun Correctional Institution, commenced the above-captioned 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights action against fifteen defendants seeking redress for alleged civil rights violations relating to his criminal prosecution and imprisonment for second degree intentional homicide and armed robbery. Presently before the court is defendant Kenneth LaBrasca’s motion to dismiss brought pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. For the reasons discussed below, the motion will be granted, and I will direct the clerk of court to enter a judgment dismissing the entire action, against all defendants, without prejudice.

In Mr. Lee’s original 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint filed in this action, he alleges a far reaching conspiracy by Racine County sheriff deputy Kenneth LaBrasca and detectives of the Milwaukee police department. Mr. Lee contends that this conspiracy ultimately led to his conviction and incarceration for crimes which he implies, in his complaint, he did not commit. Specifically, he complains that he was arrested without probable cause and that police detectives falsified and fabricated statements he made to them. Mr. Lee further alleges that police detectives fabricated his identification as the perpetrator of the crimes under investigation by the defendants. Nowhere in Mr. Lee’s complaint does he allege that he challenged the constitutionality of his conviction and imprisonment by exhausting his Wisconsin state court remedies.

The following are samples of the many allegations contained in Mr. Lee’s original complaint challenging the constitutionality of his conviction:

(1) “[Djetectives Fredericks and Purpe-ro deliberately under color of their public office did conspire with each other and the other detectives to fabricate the statement given to them by Mr. Lee which were attributed to Mr. Lee that were malicious[499]*499ly false and resulted in the deprivation of Mr. Lee’s liberty.”
(2) “[Fredericks and Purpero] arrested Mr. Lee for the crime of murder in violation of his constitutional rights of due process without proof thereof, to obtain Lee’s [c]onviction.”
(3) “Detectives Thomas Jackelen, James Gauger, and Gregory Baur did deliberately and with callous disregard aided and abetted [sic] ... in the unlawful sizure [sic] which resulted in plaintiffs arrest without probable cause, and continued towards the resulting conviction therefrom.”
(4) “[Jackelen, Gauger and Baur] under the power and authority of their public office conspired with Gerald Miller and Deputy Kenneth LaBrasca of the Racine Co Sheriffs department to fabricate Robert Lee’s identification in violation of plaintiffs constitutional right to due process
(5) “[D]etective Harrell forcefully took head hairs from plaintiffs head against his will, this was done so that the police department could plant the head hairs from plaintiffs head into a cap, and was done under the power and authority of his office and under color of state law and custom of the police department, to deprive plaintiff of his liberty, and therefore, is a conspiratorial wrong ...”

From this selection of Mr. Lee’s allegations, as well as from the balance of his complaint, there can be little doubt that the gravamen of Mr. Lee’s complaint is that he believes he was unlawfully convicted and incarcerated in violation of the United States Constitution. This is further borne out by the fact that in his written status report filed with this court on September 14, 1992, Mr. Lee describes his case, in part, as follows:

This is an action of conspiracy between the Milwaukee city defendants and the Racine county defendants who fabricated Mr. Lee’s identification with the citizen defendant and “state agent” Gerald Miller, based not just on the conspiracy to deprive plaintiff of his constitutional rights of life and liberty but also upon the discriminatory action of the city and county mentioned aboved [sic], to continue the illegal detention and imprisonment (emphasis added).

Nevertheless, in his complaint, Mr. Lee explicitly states that “Plaintiff, Robert Anthony Lee is not attacking the length nor the duration of his conviction within the state court.” Instead, he requests $75,000 in punitive damages per year, per defendant, for twenty years and $40,000 in compensatory damages per year, per defendant, for twenty years.

With leave of the court, Mr. Lee filed an amended complaint on July 31, 1992. In his new complaint, the plaintiff repeats the allegations of his original complaint and adds many more details. His added allegations purport to demonstrate the defendants’ alleged participation in the conspiracy unlawfully and unconstitutionally to convict him and imprison him. Just as in his original complaint, his amended complaint does not allege an exhaustion of his state court remedies with respect to his claims.

In response to Mr. Lee’s amended complaint, Mr. LaBrasca filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Mr. LaBrasca’s motion to dismiss argues that a state prisoner, who has not alleged in his complaint that he has exhausted his available state court remedies, may not maintain a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for money damages when the allegations in his complaint solely challenge the constitutionality of his state court conviction and imprisonment. Mr. LaBrasca argues that such a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit cannot be maintained and that Mr. Lee’s complaint sets forth an action in habeas corpus, which requires a demonstration in his complaint that he has exhausted his available state court remedies.

Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions in Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973) and Wolff v. McDonnell, 418 U.S. 539, 94 S.Ct. 2963, 41 L.Ed.2d 935 (1974), there have been rulings by the court of appeals for the seventh circuit which support the following rule: a plaintiff who brings a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint solely seeking money damages, but alleging only the unconstitutionality of his state court conviction and incarceration, may not maintain such an action unless [500]*500he pleads and ultimately demonstrates that he has exhausted his state court remedies challenging his conviction and imprisonment.

In Hanson v. Heckel, 791 F.2d 93

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Bluebook (online)
816 F. Supp. 498, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4340, 1993 WL 93563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-purpero-wied-1993.