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Fourth Amendment Violation

By: Derek Hawkins//September 11, 2017//

Fourth Amendment Violation

By: Derek Hawkins//September 11, 2017//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Uche P. Mordi v. Todd Zeigler, et al.

Case No.: 15-3307

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER and EASTERBROOK, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Fourth Amendment Violation

In the present appeal, with the assistance of appointed counsel, he argues only that the district court erred in rejecting his Fourth Amendment claims against Zeigler and Zerrusen.  , Mordi is not asking for any form of relief that would undermine his guilty plea or his conviction. He is raising a civil rights complaint, and he is raising the type of complaint that Wallace says accrues at the time of the stop and arrest. In addition, even if Mordi filed a complaint that included some Heck‐barred contentions and other cognizable arguments, we have held that the proper response is not to toss the entire complaint. Instead, the judge must carve off any Heck‐barred contentions and proceed with what remains. Evans, 603 F.3d at 364; Gilbert, 512 F.3d at 902.

The district court cut off this case at the screening stage, based on a finding that it could not properly proceed under section 1983. This was in error, and so we REVERSE and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Reversed and Remanded

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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