Appeals court revives Nevada excessive force lawsuit
CARSON CITY — A federal appeals court Monday revived a lawsuit filed by a Nevada inmate alleging excessive force by prison officers and assigned the case to a new judge, saying U.S. District Judge Robert Jones would have “substantial difficulty” putting previous expressed views out of his mind.
The majority of a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said comments Jones made in an order required a new judge take over the case.
The opinion revives the civil rights lawsuit Charles S. Manley Jr., filed in 2011 claiming excessive force by correctional officers and prison officials at Ely State Prison.
Jones earlier granted summary judgment in favor of correctional staff, thereby ending the case. Manley, who had ingested methamphetamine, said he had called for staff when a fight broke out between him and his cellmate in 2009, according to court records.
Manley claimed he was beaten by corrections officers when a security camera panned away from him. There was no dispute he was picked up by wrist and leg restraints and carried to a holding cell.
In granting summary judgment, Jones said Manley’s testimony was “so compromised as to be virtually worthless” because of his drug use. The appeals panel, however, said the discounting of Manley’s testimony “constitutes the sort of credibility finding properly left for a jury.”
Jones, in one of his rulings, took a swipe at the appeals court, noting he “does not have an excellent track record with the Court of Appeals in granting summary judgment under similar circumstances … but the Court of Appeals has an equally poor record with juries after remand … so this Court’s record in finding that a reasonable jury could not find for a plaintiff is ultimately very good.”
That retort was enough for two out the three appellate judges to conclude that reassigning the case is necessary to “preserve the appearance of justice.”
The appeals court did affirm Jones’ ruling granting summary judgment to a correctional officer who Manley accused of deliberate indifference, ruling the inmate failed to timely exhaust administrative avenues for resolution.
Jones took senior status a year ago and now presides over a reduced caseload.
Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com. Follow @sandrachereb on Twitter.
