Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-89-02198/USCOURTS-ca10-89-02198-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Ralph M. Lepiscopo
Appellant
Karl L. Sannicks
Appellee

Document Text:

• 1 

• 

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

FILED . .Uoitetl Scaces Courc ~f Appeats 

Tenth Circmt 

APR 2 4 1990 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

RALPH M. LEPISCOPO, ) 

) 

Plaintiff-Appellant, ) 

) 

v. ) No. 89-2198 

) (D.C. No. 89-0821) 

KARL L. SANNICKS, ) (D. New Mexico) 

) 

Defendant-Appellee. ) 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT* 

Before LOGAN, SEYMOUR, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges. 

After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 

34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. 

Ralph M. Lepiscopo appeals the district court's sua sponte 

dismissal of his complaint against Karl L. Sannicks, Deputy 

Director of the New Mexico Department of Corrections, for 

Sannicks' refusal to release an investigative report. Lepiscopo 

claims to have informed the prison officials of another prisoner 

* 

be 

for 

res 

This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

Appellate Case: 89-2198 Document: 01019972025 Date Filed: 04/24/1990 Page: 1 
allegedly being bribed by a newspaper reporter. When Lepiscopo 

saw no report of the investigation he requested a copy of the 

report from Sannicks, who responded with a statement of thanks for 

the information Lepiscopo provided "which has already been acted 

upon," but he did not give Lepiscopo a copy. 

Lepiscopo's complaint appears to claim entitlement to a copy 

of the report under a New Mexico statute and the First Amendment 

to the United States Constitution. Insofar as he seeks relief 

under a New Mexico statute, in the absence of diversity 

jurisdiction, there is no federal cause of action. Thus, 

Lepiscopo's claim rises or falls upon a determination that a 

person who suggests to state officials that they investigate an 

alleged violation of a law by two other persons is entitled to a 

copy of the investigative report under the First Amendment as made 

applicable to state officers by the Fourteenth Amendment. No case 

has ever gone so far, and we agree with the district court that 

there is no First Amendment right of an ordinary citizen, even one 

who initiates a complaint and claims to be a free lance writer, to 

a copy of the Department of Corrections investigative report. 

The district court properly dismissed the cause of action. 

AFFIRMED. 

The mandate shall issue forthwith. 

-2-

Entered for the Court 

James K. Logan 

Circuit Judge 

Appellate Case: 89-2198 Document: 01019972025 Date Filed: 04/24/1990 Page: 2