Opinion ID: 744627
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application Challenge

Text: 10 We first address Clarke's claim that his punishment for speaking to Captain Moulard violated his right to free speech, as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Clarke was charged with violating Louisiana's defiance rule by threatening Captain Moulard with legal redress, by being belligerent, and by threatening him with the words we'll see who wins. He was found guilty by a prison disciplinary board and this finding was affirmed after an administrative appeal. He was punished with transfer to another prison and had accumulated good-time credits taken from him. Counsel for the State explained at oral argument that good-time credits count toward early release: when an inmate's time served plus accumulated good-time credits equal the amount of time he was sentenced to serve, the inmate is entitled to release. Thus, for Clarke, his conviction for the incident involving Captain Moulard in effect extended the term of his imprisonment by ten days. Clarke sought to recover these lost credits, as well as damages, by filing this § 1983 suit alleging that he had been punished for violating the no threats of legal redress portion of Rule 3 in violation of his First Amendment rights. The magistrate judge found in his favor on the merits and granted him most of the relief he requested. 7 11 This was error. In Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973), the Supreme Court held that an inmate may not, by suing under § 1983, recover good-time credits lost in a prison disciplinary proceeding. It held that these credits may only be recovered via a writ of habeas corpus. Thus a prisoner must begin with available state remedies and then, if he has not been successful, may petition a federal court for the writ. The Court later held in Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), that an inmate may not sue for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for false arrest where a favorable ruling by a federal court would necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction. The Court made clear that only after the inmate receives habeas relief may he seek damages under § 1983 for the government's unconstitutional act. The Court stated that the trial court should act as the gatekeeper, dismissing those prisoner suits incorrectly brought under § 1983. Id. at 487, 114 S.Ct. at 2372-73. Finally, the Court just revisited this area in Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641, 117 S.Ct. 1584, 137 L.Ed.2d 906 (1997), in which it held, inter alia, that the Heck rule applies to prisoners attacking disciplinary proceedings which result in changes to their sentence, including the loss of accumulated good-time credits. We have adopted a simple rule for determining whether a prisoner must first obtain habeas relief: if a favorable determination would not automatically entitle the prisoner to accelerated release, the proper vehicle for suit is § 1983. If it would so entitle him, he must first get a habeas judgment. Orellana v. Kyle, 65 F.3d 29, 31 (5th Cir.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1059, 116 S.Ct. 736, 133 L.Ed.2d 686 (1996). 12 Clarke's claim is clearly barred by Preiser and Heck. Clarke claims he was found guilty of violating an unconstitutional rule and, therefore, that his conviction was illegal. He has not obtained habeas relief. This is precisely the type of claim that is remediable via a habeas proceeding and that is barred by Preiser and Heck when it is brought under § 1983. See, e.g., Preiser, 411 U.S. at 486, 93 S.Ct. at 1834 (where prisoner's challenge to his custody is that the statute under which he stands convicted is unconstitutional, ... his grievance is that he is being unlawfully subjected to physical restraint and thus habeas is his remedy); Leonard v. Nix, 55 F.3d 370, 373 (8th Cir.1995) (inmate challenging constitutionality of prison rule under which he was convicted, which resulted in loss of good-time credits, must file successful habeas petition as prerequisite to a § 1983 suit). 13 It being clear that the magistrate judge erred in not analyzing and dismissing Clarke's complaint under Heck, we must decide the effect of this given the State's failure to address it. The Sixth and Seventh Circuits, using different rationales, have held that this objection may not be waived. Dixon v. Chrans, 101 F.3d 1228, 1231 (7th Cir.1996); Hadley v. Werner, 753 F.2d 514, 516 (6th Cir.1985). We find it helpful to analogize to the law governing the waiver of the requirement that a state prisoner exhaust his state remedies before filing a § 2254 suit in federal court. Although there is a strong presumption in favor of requiring the prisoner to pursue his available state remedies, the failure to exhaust is not itself a jurisdictional bar. Granberry v. Greer, 481 U.S. 129, 131, 107 S.Ct. 1671, 1673-74, 95 L.Ed.2d 119 (1987). In Granberry, the Court stated that where a case involves an issue on which an unresolved question of fact or of state law might have an important bearing, interests of comity and federalism may make it appropriate to insist on complete exhaustion. Id. at 134-35, 107 S.Ct. at 1675-76. Here, the magistrate judge never made any findings as to whether the prison conviction was based solely on the charge that Clarke threatened legal redress. This was the only charge of the three that she found to be based upon an unconstitutional portion of the rule. She simply concluded his rights were violated. If his prison conviction were based on his belligerence it would not be constitutionally infirm and he would not be entitled to any relief. 14 Where the issues in a claim are highly factual and unresolved and there is additional relevant evidence that has not been considered, the case should be dismissed and the state remedies exhausted. Graham v. Johnson, 94 F.3d 958, 970-71 (5th Cir.1996). Because that is the situation here, we vacate the magistrate judge's judgment in favor of Clarke on this claim and those parts of her order which attempt to make him whole for the alleged constitutional violation. We remand with directions to dismiss the claim without prejudice to Clarke filing again at such time as he is able to demonstrate that he has received the requisite habeas relief. 8 See Johnson v. McElveen, 101 F.3d 423, 424 (5th Cir.1996).