KIRK LANKFORD v. CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU DEPARTMENT OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY PETER CARLISLE LISA DE MELLO ARMINA CHING KEITH KANESHIRO DOES 100 (2024)

SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER

Kirk Lankford, representing himself, appeals from the Judgment entered by the Circuit Court of the First Circuit on November 23, 2018.¹ He challenges the circuit court's order granting the defendants' motion to dismiss his complaint, entered on June 3, 2016. We affirm.

In 2008 Lankford was convicted of Murder in the Second Degree in violation of Hawaii Revised Statutes § 707-701.5. State v. Lankford, No. 29287, 2011 WL 1836716, at *1 (Haw. App. May 13, 2011) (mem.), cert. rejected, SCWC–29287, 2011 WL 4552995 (Haw. Oct. 4, 2011). He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Id.

Lankford filed a complaint with the circuit court on February 25, 2015. He claimed that the City and County of Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney and four of its attorneys (collectively, the City) violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He also asserted state law tort claims.

The City removed the case to federal court. The federal court dismissed the federal claims, declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims, and remanded the case to the circuit court.

Back in state court, the City moved to dismiss the remaining claims. The circuit court granted the motion and entered the Judgment. This appeal followed.

Lankford's tort claims against the City are based on conduct connected with his sentencing by the circuit court and his minimum sentence proceeding before the Hawai‘i Paroling Authority. Neither Lankford's conviction nor his sentence have been vacated. A criminal defendant who has failed to overturn their conviction cannot maintain a civil tort lawsuit based on claims that necessarily imply the invalidity of the conviction. Penaflor v. Mossman, 141 Hawai‘i 358, 364, 409 P.3d 762, 768 (App. 2017); Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 484-86 (1994). The circuit court did not err by dismissing Lankford's complaint.

The “Judgment” entered by the circuit court on November 23, 2018, is affirmed.

Katherine G. Leonard Acting Chief Judge

Keith K. Hiraoka Associate Judge

Karen T. Nakasone Associate Judge

FOOTNOTES

1.   The Honorable Virginia Lea Crandall presided.