Ballard v. Burton

• Decision Date: 24 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. 04-60621.,04-60621.
• Citation: 444 F.3d 391
• Parties: Stephen BALLARD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Brian BURTON, individually and in his Official capacity; Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 391

444 F.3d 391

Stephen BALLARD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Brian BURTON, individually and in his Official capacity; Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 04-60621.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

March 24, 2006.

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Jim D. Waide, III, Joseph R. Murray, II (argued), Waide & Associates, Lisa S. Rohman, Tupelo, MS, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

James Lawson Hester (argued), Craig, Hester, Luke & Dodson, Ridgeland, MS, for Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Before DAVIS, STEWART and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

CARL E. STEWART, Circuit Judge:

Stephen Ballard ("Ballard") appeals from the grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, Brian Burton, Deputy Sheriff of the Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office ("Burton"), and Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, on his action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Ballard's complaint alleges, in pertinent part, that Burton, individually and in his official capacity, caused permanent injuries by shooting Ballard during an arrest attempt. The essence of Ballard's claim is that Burton violated his Fourth Amendment rights by using excessive force that rendered him permanently paraplegic.

On appeal, Ballard contends that the district court erred in its determination that (1) pursuant to Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 486-87, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994),¹ Ballard was collaterally estopped from bringing this § 1983 claim due to his state conviction for simple assault on a law enforcement officer; and (2) Heck applies to this § 1983 action even though the state conviction was obtained via a guilty plea pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970).² We agree with Ballard's contention that Heck does not bar his claim. Nevertheless, we affirm the district court's summary judgment against Ballard because the summary judgment record does not reveal a Fourth Amendment violation.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Stephen Ballard, while armed with a 30/30 rifle, was shot during a confrontation with Mississippi law enforcement officers. Following the incident, Ballard was charged with two counts of simple assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Ballard was convicted on two counts of the indictment. But these convictions were overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court on the basis that the trial court erred by not allowing testimony on Ballard's insanity defense. On remand, instead of defending himself at trial, Ballard pleaded guilty to the charge of simple assault on Deputy Leroy Boling, pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, admitting only that he put Boling in fear and that he fired the 30/30 rifle several times while he was near officers.

Ballard then filed the instant action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that Burton and Oktibbeha County violated his Fourth Amendment rights against use of unreasonable force. The defendants moved for summary judgment, contending that Ballard was barred from bringing this action under the "favorable termination rule" established in Heck. In addition to the pleadings, the parties filed excerpts from the trial transcript, depositions, and other documents in support of, or opposition to, the motion for summary judgment. The following factual background is drawn from disputed and undisputed statements in the pleadings and other documents presented to the district court prior to its ruling on the motion for summary judgment.

On or about August 11, 1996, Ballard sought psychiatric treatment from the Oktibbeha County Hospital after he and his wife had a heated argument. Ballard was suicidal at the time he sought treatment but was not admitted into the hospital and did not receive any medical attention. Ballard left the hospital and armed himself with a 30/30 caliber rifle. Because of his disturbed mental condition, he "irrationally drove" through Starkville, Mississippi, stopping occasionally to fire his gun in the air and to threaten his own life. Law enforcement officers from the Okitibbeha County Sheriff's Office and the Starkville Police Department were notified and followed him in patrol cars.

The last time Ballard stopped, Deputy Leroy Boling was in the first patrol car behind him. Boling exited the patrol car and crouched down behind its open door. Ballard came toward Boling with the rifle down, pointing toward Boling but not "up sighting" him. Boling asked Ballard to stay back and put the weapon down, but Ballard refused. Boling testified that the rifle was aimed at Boling's head because that was the only thing showing, and that he could vividly see the end of the rifle's barrel. Ballard then pointed the rifle at an upward angle that Boling and other law enforcement officers described as "port arms."

By this time, Starkville Police Lieutenant Keith Davis had arrived, exited his patrol car and gone to the back of Boling's patrol car. Deputy Charles Cole, Jr., who arrived at the scene in Davis' patrol car, remembered seeing Ballard in front of Boling's car with a rifle and with Boling pinned down behind his car. Cole testified that he saw Ballard pointing the gun at Boling and that he felt like Ballard was pointing the gun at everyone there.

Boling moved to join Davis at the rear of Boling's patrol car. Ballard put the rifle up under his chin and said, "Watch this," then lowered the rifle. Ballard again pointed the rifle at the upward port arms angle while he pulled up his shirt and patted his chest with his free hand. Ballard indicated his chest was a target and told the officers to shoot at him. Ballard fired a shot in the air, then lowered the rifle toward Davis. Burton saw Ballard talking to Davis and Boling, and saw Ballard lower the gun toward Davis. Likewise, Deputy Brett Watson saw Ballard aim at Davis and believed Ballard "was fixing to kill Lieutenant Davis and possibly Lieutenant Boling." Watson shot Ballard with a shotgun, but it seemed to have little effect. Ballard "just swayed back a little bit and then went back with the gun towards the two officers." Watson's shotgun jammed, but he cleared the jam, fired a second time, and saw Ballard fall backwards onto the concrete. At the same time that Watson aimed and fired his second shot, Burton aimed at Ballard's mouth and shot him. The shot to Ballard's mouth caused severe damage to his spinal cord and rendered him permanently paraplegic.

Ballard's complaint asserts that Burton knew Ballard's rifle was empty prior to taking aim and shooting him, and that Burton therefore had no reason to believe that any of the officers were in imminent danger. The complaint further alleges that, under these circumstances, Burton's decision to shoot him was unreasonable and amounted to a use of excessive force, in violation of § 1983, and that this use of unreasonable force rendered him paraplegic. The complaint also asserts as a proximate contributing cause of Ballard's injuries the gross negligence of Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, via its failure to properly train Burton and other officers how to handle a suicidal person without killing him.

Presented with pleadings, testimony, and other documents that included the foregoing as both disputed and undisputed facts, the district court directed the parties to brief the issue of whether Heck's favorable termination rule bars Ballard from bringing his § 1983 action, in light of the Alford nature of Ballard's state conviction. Reasoning that (1) Ballard's Alford plea was a conviction and was not a "favorable termination" and (2) Heck's favorable termination rule applies to preclude Ballard's § 1983 claim, the district court subsequently granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment against Ballard.

Ballard appeals the judgment against him, asserting that his Alford plea does not have the same collateral estoppel effect as a non-Alford guilty plea and that Heck's favorable termination rule does not bar his § 1983 action. While we agree with the district court that the Alford nature of Ballard's state conviction has no effect on its use for Heck purposes, we find that Heck's favorable termination rule does not apply to the instant circumstances. Nevertheless, because the summary judgment record does not support at least one element necessary for Ballard to prevail in his § 1983 claim, we affirm.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

We review de novo a district court's grant of a motion for summary judgment, applying the same standard as the district court did in the first instance. See Burge v. Parish of St. Tammany, 187 F.3d 452, 465 (5th Cir.1999). Summary judgment is appropriate where the moving party establishes "there is no genuine issue of material fact and that [it] is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); see Cronn v. Buffington, 150 F.3d 538, 541 (5th Cir.1998). The moving party must show that if the evidentiary material of record were reduced to admissible evidence in court, it would be insufficient to permit the nonmoving party to carry its burden. Celotex v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

B. Heck's Favorable Termination Rule

It is well settled that, under Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 486-87, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), a plaintiff who has been convicted of a crime cannot recover damages for an alleged violation of his constitutional rights if the alleged violation arose from the same facts attendant to the charge for which he was convicted, unless he proves "that his conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into question by a federal court's issuance of a writ of habeas corpus." Heck, 512 U.S. at 486-87, 114 S.Ct. 2364; Randell v. Johnson, 227 F.3d 300, 301 (5th Cir.20...