Court Opinion

ID: 9838903
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-08 18:00:36.529371+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:44.569182
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-60180        Document: 00516887885             Page: 1      Date Filed: 09/08/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________
                                                                               United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit
                                      No. 23-60180
                                    Summary Calendar                                  FILED
                                    ____________                              September 8, 2023
                                                                                 Lyle W. Cayce
   Merlin Lkent Williams,                                                             Clerk

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                            versus

   State of Mississippi; Harrison County Sheriff
   Department A.D.C.; Gulfport Police Department;
   Harrison County Circuit Court; Mississippi
   Department of Corrections; United States National
   Criminal Information Center; Et Cetera Alia
   Defendants,

                                              Defendants—Appellees.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                       for the Southern District of Mississippi
                               USDC No. 3:23-CV-22
                     ______________________________

   Before Elrod, Haynes, and Douglas, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *

         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-60180     Document: 00516887885          Page: 2   Date Filed: 09/08/2023

                                   No. 23-60180

          Merlin Lkent Williams, Mississippi prisoner # 213616, moves for leave
   to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) on appeal from the dismissal of his civil
   complaint as frivolous, malicious, and for failure to state a claim under 28
   U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B). Liberally construed, Williams’s motion and briefs
   dispute the district court’s determination that his complaint arose under 42
   U.S.C. § 1983 and was barred under Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994),
   as his claims challenged the validity of his conviction. He argues that his
   claims instead arose under property law under 18 U.S.C. § 1030, 28 U.S.C.
   § 1343, and under 421 U.S.C. § 1985, because they involved his
   unconstitutional detention as corporeal and intellectual property.
   Additionally, he contends that although the district court found his claims
   malicious because they were repetitive, he is pursuing the instant proceeding
   because he was not granted adequate remedies in his previous proceedings.
   He also contends that these claims were not previously presented on habeas
   review.
          Williams’s amended complaint cited § 1983, and, in any event,
   regardless of his alleged statutory bases for his claims and his attempt to
   reinvent his claims as property claims, he has not raised a nonfrivolous
   argument attempting to show that this third attempt to challenge his
   conviction on the basis that he was wrongfully convicted for the crimes of
   “Merlin Kent Williams” is not malicious, even if he disagreed with the
   rulings his prior cases. See Pittman v. Moore, 980 F.2d 994, 994-95 (5th Cir.
   1993); Bailey v. Johnson, 846 F.2d 1019, 1021 (5th Cir. 1988); Williams v.
   Schmidt, No. 1:19-CV-292 (S.D. Miss. Jul. 3, 2019), Williams v. Cain, No.
   1:20-CV-286 (S.D. Miss. Aug. 18, 2021). Moreover, to the extent that his
   complaint was correctly construed as a § 1983 complaint, Williams has not
   raised a nonfrivolous argument that his claims were barred under Heck
   because a finding in his favor would necessarily imply the invalidity of his
   conviction and sentence and because he has not shown that this conviction

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Case: 23-60180      Document: 00516887885            Page: 3    Date Filed: 09/08/2023

                                      No. 23-60180

   or sentence has been invalidated. See Heck, 512 U.S. at 487. Additionally, to
   the extent that he contends that successive habeas relief is available, he has
   not shown his appeal raises a nonfrivolous issue regarding the district court’s
   decision not to sever any habeas claims because he has not shown that this
   court has authorized him to file any successive habeas claims. See Carson v.
   Johnson, 112 F.3d 818, 820 (5th Cir. 1997); Burton v. Stewart, 549 U.S. 147,
   152-53 (2007); Crone v. Cockrell, 324 F.3d 833, 836-37 (5th Cir. 2003).
   Because Williams fails to demonstrate that his appeal will involve a
   nonfrivolous issue, the IFP motion is DENIED, and the appeal is
   DISMISSED as frivolous. See Baugh v. Taylor, 117 F.3d 197, 202 n.24 (5th
   Cir. 1997); Howard v. King, 707 F.2d 215, 220 (5th Cir. 1983); 5th Cir. R.
   42.2. Williams’s motion for the appointment of counsel is also DENIED.
          This dismissal of this appeal as frivolous; the district court’s dismissal
   of his complaint as frivolous, malicious, and for failure to state a claim; and
   the district court’s dismissal of Williams v. Schmidt, No. 1:19-CV-292 (S.D.
   Miss. Jul. 3, 2019), as frivolous and for failure to state a claim count as strikes
   under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). See McGarrah v. Alford, 783 F.3d 584, 584 (5th
   Cir. 2015); Boyd v. Biggers, 31 F.3d 279, 281, 284-85 (5th Cir. 1994). Because
   Williams has accumulated three strikes, he is BARRED from proceeding
   IFP in any civil action or appeal filed while he is incarcerated or detained in
   any facility unless he is under imminent danger of serious physical injury. See
   § 1915(g).

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