Coffman v. Trickey

• Decision Date: 12 October 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-2520,88-2520
• Citation: 884 F.2d 1057
• Parties: Larry COFFMAN, Appellant, v. Myrna TRICKEY, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1057

884 F.2d 1057

Larry COFFMAN, Appellant, v. Myrna TRICKEY, Appellee.

No. 88-2520.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted June 12, 1989.

Decided Aug. 28, 1989.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Oct. 12, 1989.

Gerald P. Greiman, Clayton, Mo., for appellant.

Kathi L. Chestnut, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee.

Before ARNOLD and MAGILL, Circuit Judges, and HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

HENLEY, Senior Circuit Judge.

Larry Coffman appeals from a final judgment entered in the district court upon a jury verdict in favor of defendant Myrna Trickey on Coffman's claim that he was deprived of liberty without due process of law. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

Coffman has been an inmate at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center (MECC) in Pacific, Missouri since December, 1985. While at MECC, Coffman developed a social correspondence with a Wilma Smith, whom he would later marry while still incarcerated. The two had been corresponding for approximately a month, when on May 2, 1986 Smith, who had driven to MECC with the wife of inmate Sam Gunther, attempted to visit Coffman but was unable to do so because she was only on Gunther's and not Coffman's visiting list. That evening, Gunther informed Coffman of Smith's attempted visit and gave him a phone number where he could reach her.

Coffman, as allowed by prison policy, called Smith that night. During the conversation, Smith asked Coffman to be on the east end of the prison track the next morning where she could observe him from a church parking lot located outside the prison. On May 3, 1986 Coffman appeared on the prison track, and Smith arrived at the church parking lot at the time agreed upon. Smith got out of her car and stood in front of it so that Coffman could see her.

The duration of this distant rendezvous, by which the two viewed one another for the first time, was approximately a couple of minutes. Smith then waved as she turned to get back in her car, and Coffman waved back. No verbal communication took place or was possible.

After this event occurred, Corrections Officer William Arledge, who witnessed the event, lodged a charge against Coffman for violating Rule 29 of the Missouri Division of Adult Institution Rules, which prohibits "[k]nowingly failing to abide by any published institutional rule." ¹ Coffman was immediately placed in administrative segregation for about four hours before being released. Subsequently, Coffman was brought before a Disciplinary Committee and then an Adjustment Board and found guilty of the charge.

Before each body Coffman admitted committing the foregoing acts but denied any wrongdoing. The Adjustment Board recommended as punishment that Coffman be placed in the prison's Special Adjustment Unit because of Coffman's accumulation of other institutional offenses, ² and because Coffman admitted "that this was a planned situation." Defendant Myrna Trickey, the Superintendent of MECC, approved the recommendation and Coffman was placed in the Special Adjustment Unit for ninety days.

Coffman brought suit against Trickey, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983, claiming that she deprived him of his liberty without due process of law, U.S. Const. amend XIV, in that there was no published rule prohibiting what he had done. ³ Just prior to trial, Coffman included a second cause of action claiming that his placement in the Special Adjustment Unit for ninety days violated Missouri law which limits the time that an inmate can be confined in such a unit to ten days. See Mo.Rev.Stat. Sec. 217.375.1. Over Trickey's objection that the issue had not been pleaded, the issue was allowed to go to trial.

The evidence at trial showed that Coffman and Smith were separated by approximately one hundred yards, two 16-foot tall chain link fences, one with razor wire on top and the other with barbed wire on top, and that a guard tower was stationed almost directly between them. In addition, Coffman tendered into evidence MECC's "Inmate Conduct Rules" and the Missouri Division of Adult Institution's "Inmate Rulebook." Coffman testified, and, when on the stand, Trickey in turn conceded, that nothing in either set of rules prohibited inmates from waving to people on the other side of the fences. MECC's "Inmate Discipline" rule also was admitted which states inter alia that inmates will "be advised in writing of [their] rights and responsibilities, conduct prohibited at this institution, and disciplinary sanctions which may be taken for misconduct of violation of same. This information will be provided in booklet form...."

As part of her case-in-chief, Trickey testified that a number of signs around the institution issue various warnings. First, signs posted on the outermost of the two fences warn outsiders not to communicate with inmates through the fences. Second, signs posted on the innermost fence warn inmates that they will be subject to rifle fire if they approach the fence. Third, a sign outside an airlock entrance to the visiting room instructs inmates not to communicate with visitors through the airlock before entering the visiting room. Coffman in turn testified that, never having had a visitor, he was not aware if there was such a sign. Over Coffman's objection on relevancy grounds, Trickey also offered into evidence and testified about, the visitation rules at MECC. Finally, both sides tendered evidence on the question whether the Missouri statutory ten-day limit on Adjustment Unit confinement applied to MECC's Adjustment Unit and on whether the statute was violated. At no time during the trial did Trickey identify the rule she believed Coffman violated.

At the close of all the evidence, Coffman moved for a directed verdict on both causes of action, which was denied. Coffman also objected to the giving of certain jury instructions, but was overruled. The jury found for Trickey on both counts, and Coffman appealed without filing a motion for judgment non obstante veredicto.

Coffman argues that the district court committed four errors, each requiring reversal. Specifically, Coffman claims that the trial court erred by denying his motion for a directed verdict on either (1) his due process claim or (2) his state statutory claim, and in instructing the jury (3) that Trickey could not be held liable if she reasonably believed in good faith that she was acting pursuant to a valid policy, and (4) that Trickey could not be held liable unless she acted with the intent to violate Coffman's constitutional rights. Trickey argues that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury verdict, that the instructions were not in error or, alternatively, were harmless error, and that, because Coffman never moved for JNOV, the most he can receive from this court is a new trial and not an order for entry of judgment.

We agree with Coffman that the district court should have granted him a directed verdict on his claim that he was deprived of liberty without due process of law when Trickey punished him for conduct that was not proscribed. A fundamental tenet of due process is that to be sanctioned one must have received fair notice that one's allegedly violative conduct was prohibited. See Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 108, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 2298, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972); Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347, 350-51, 84 S.Ct. 1697, 1700-01, 12 L.Ed.2d 894 (1964); see also Wright v. Arkansas Activities Association, 501 F.2d 25, 28-29 (8th Cir.1974). It is beyond cavil that this principle applies within the prison setting. Gibbs v. King, 779 F.2d 1040, 1044 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1117, 106 S.Ct. 1975, 90 L.Ed.2d 659 (1986); see Remmers v. Brewer, 475 F.2d 52, 54 (8th Cir.1973) (remanding for a hearing to determine whether prisoner was punished for engaging in legally protected conduct).

Since Coffman was punished for violating a rule which prohibits the violation of a published rule, it was incumbent on Trickey to point to the precise published rule that was violated. Without being coupled to a published rule, Rule 29, standing alone, means nothing or at least would be void for vagueness. Interstate Circuit, Inc. v. City of Dallas, 390 U.S. 676, 682-91, 88 S.Ct. 1298, 1302-07, 20 L.Ed.2d 225 (1968); United States v. Mersky, 361 U.S. 431, 440-41, 80 S.Ct. 459, 464-65, 4 L.Ed.2d 423 (1960). That Coffman's conduct was "a planned situation" does not alter the requirement that Trickey must show that Coffman's conduct knowingly violated a published institutional rule.

In support of her argument that Coffman violated a published rule, Trickey relies on the four rules introduced at trial. Trickey first relies on the signs that warn outsiders not to communicate with inmates through the fence. However, Trickey admitted that these signs face outward and are directed to those outside the prison. Even if Coffman could have been aware of their existence, the signs do not apply to him.

Second, Trickey relies on the signs facing inward that warn inmates that they will be subject to rifle fire if they attempt to approach the fence. It is uncontroverted that Coffman never attempted to approach the fence. Thus, this rule was never violated.

Third, Trickey relies on the sign outside the airlock entrance to the visiting room. Like the other signs, this sign is irrelevant to the facts of this case. Coffman was on the prison track; his pen pal in a church parking lot. He was not about to "proceed[ ] ... into the visiting room," to quote Trickey's testimony about the purpose of the sign. This sign is no more applicable to Coffman's "communication" on the track, than it is to his communication by mail or by telephone. Furthermore, it is undisputed that Coffman, never having had a visitor, never saw the sign. Thus, Coffman could not have violated the rule "knowingly," as Rule 29 requires.

Finally, Trickey relies on the MECC visitation rules. These regulations discuss visitation hours, frequency of visits, accessibility to...