United States Seventh Circuit

In a suit under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 alleging that prison officer violated plaintiff's rights under the Eighth Amendment, judgment as a matter of law for defendants is reversed and remanded where the magistrate judge should have allowed the plaintiff to present evidence of the officers' alleged assault, even though his account implied the invalidity of a prison disciplinary tribunal and went against the holdings of Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994) and Edwards v. Balisok, 520 U.S. 641 (1997). The magistrate judge should incorporate those decisions through instructions to the jury at the start of trial, as necessary during the evidence, and at the close of the evidence.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/06/2007
• Decided 01/09/2008
• Published 01/09/2008

Judges

• EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge., Before EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge, and CUDAHY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Seventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Christa C. Cottrell, Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Evan Siegel, Office of the Attorney General, Chicago, IL, for Defendants-Appellees.