Kron v. Leblanc
| Decision Date | 01 October 2012 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL ACTION NO. 11-2263 |
| Parties | JASON JOSEPH KRON v. JAMES LEBLANC ET AL. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana |
Plaintiff, Jason Joseph Kron, is currently incarcerated in the B.B. "Sixty" Rayburn Correctional Center ("Rayburn"). He filed the instant complaint pro se and in forma pauperis, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Corrections ("DOC") James M. LeBlanc and 21 other defendants,1 all of whom are employees at Rayburn. Kron asserts numerous claims arising from two incidents of allegedly excessive force against him by Rayburn officials on March 4 and March 27, 2010; other officials' failure to protect him from the excessive force; false disciplinary reports filed against him regarding those two incidents; inadequate disciplinary proceedings; inadequate outdoors exercise; insufficient medical care; and other actions relating to his administrative remedies procedure ("ARP") complaints about the two incidents. He seeks injunctive relief and monetary damages. Complaint, RecordDoc. No. 1; Amended Complaint, Record Doc. No. 14; Second Amended Complaint, Record Doc. No. 37.
On February 29, 2012, I conducted a telephone conference in this matter. Participating were plaintiff pro se and Phyllis Glazer and Michael Keller, counsel for defendants. Plaintiff was sworn and testified for all purposes permitted by Spears v. McCotter, 766 F.2d 179 (5th Cir. 1985), and its progeny.
During the conference, Kron stated that he wanted to dismiss all of his claims against defendants Bruce Stewart, Darryl Mizell and Leroy Graves. He also asked to dismiss his claims against defendant Greta Smith arising solely out of the March 4, 2010, incident of allegedly excessive force. Plaintiff further requested to dismiss those claims against defendants Warden Robert Tanner, Assistant Warden Keith Bickham and Secretary LeBlanc that relate solely to his dismissed claims against defendants Stewart, Mizell, Graves and Smith.
After the hearing, in furtherance of the screening process required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, I ordered Kron to provide to the court and defense counsel a sworn statement regarding the punishment he received for having been found guilty of disciplinary violations at the allegedly deficient disciplinary hearings. I also ordered defense counsel to provide the court and plaintiff with verified copies of documents reflecting what punishment plaintiff received as a result of the subject disciplinary hearings. RecordDoc. No. 47. Kron timely provided a statement that, although excessively voluminous, verbose, repetitive and largely nonresponsive to my order, does contain the ordered information. Record Doc. No. 48. Defendants' counsel timely provided the requested records. Record Doc. No. 49.
On July 12, 2012, I ordered both sides to submit affidavits or other evidence establishing the date or dates on which Kron exhausted his ARP concerning his claims. Record Doc. No. 58. Both sides complied. Record Doc. Nos. 59, 60.
In addition, since the Spears hearing, Kron has filed a third motion to amend, in which he seeks to add Greta Smith as an additional defendant concerning his claim that he was denied adequate outdoor exercise. Record Doc. No. 54. That motion is also addressed below.
Kron's written submissions are so voluminous, verbose, repetitive and filled with extraneous material that they make it extremely difficult to ascertain exactly what claims he is trying to assert against which defendant(s). His Spears testimony confirmed and clarified most of his allegations. He confirmed that he asserts eight kinds of claims in this case relating to two (2) separate incidents of excessive force and failure to protect, false disciplinary reports, inadequate disciplinary proceedings, insufficient medical care,retaliation for filing ARP complaints and lawsuits, and failure to provide adequate outdoor exercise.
Kron testified that he was incarcerated in Rayburn after being convicted of simple possession of drugs on a multiple offender bill in August 2005 and that he is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
Kron testified that his claims of excessive force arise from two separate incidents. First, he testified that, on March 4, 2010, defendants Sergeant David Alford and Lieutenant Ronnie Seal used excessive force against him while transporting him from the bullpen back to his cell in Sleet Unit and then yanking him through the bars of his cell. Second, Kron testified that, on March 27, 2010, defendants Alford and Sergeant Steve Price used excessive force against him when he left his cell to be shaved.
As to the March 4, 2010 incident, Kron stated that he was housed in a maximum custody area at that time because a guard had fabricated a report accusing him of trying to get an extra tray of food. According to Kron, at around 7:30 a.m. on that date, he was locked in a "bullpen," an exercise cage located outdoors in which maximum custody prisoners could have "yard time." Kron explained that he was being kept in the third pen, while prisoner Walter Cox was in the second pen and prisoner Robert Hudson was in the first pen. Kron described the bullpens as being about two feet apart from each other and individually caged to prevent prisoners from reaching their hands out to touch each other.
Kron testified that he was fully restrained inside the bullpen with handcuffs, leg shackles and a waist belt. He stated that, while in their separate bullpens, Hudson told Cox, Kron's friend, that Kron had "ratted Cox out" to correctional officers, prompting them to search Cox's cell. Kron claimed that Cox did not believe Hudson. He said that Hudson told him, "Watch out for that free bitch," in reference to Sergeant Greta Smith, who heard the comment. Kron stated that Sgt. Smith went inside Sleet Unit, where Kron alleged that Smith "sat there and made a bunch of lies" and told Seal that Kron "threatened to come out of [his] handcuffs to hurt one of the inmates" and "refused to obey her orders." Kron said that Sgt. Smith gave him no such orders before entering Sleet Unit. He stated that Smith "built up a plot, a scheme, against" him and was known for being "prejudiced against white folks."
According to Kron, at this point, Seal, Smith and Alford "all conspired together and planned to come out [to the bullpen] and use excessive force" against him. He testified that the officers approached him, and Smith opened the bullpen. Kron said that when he asked Seal where they were going because his time outdoors was not yet over, Seal responded, " " Kron testified that he complied, and as he stepped out, Seal "grabbed [Kron's] right arm with both his hands . . . squeezed them hard . . . and inflicted pain on [his] arm underneath [his] armpits and lifted [his]body upwards." He said that he told Seal that the officer was "not supposed to handle him like [that]" and to let him go, but Seal did not release him. Kron further testified that Alford then grabbed his left arm over his biceps and triceps, squeezing Kron's incision from a surgery performed just two weeks earlier. Kron explained that he twisted his arm out of Alford's grip and told him, He stated that Alford retaliated by intentionally grabbing his incision again and squeezing it "twice as hard," "busting open" his incision. Kron stated that Alford and Seal lifted his body by his arms so that only his toes could touch the ground, and forced him to walk about 140 feet to Sleet Unit. Kron testified that Alford and Seal treated him this way to "inflict pain intentionally out of retaliation for Greta Smith's false accusations against [him]."
Kron denied that he had refused to come out of the bullpen when first ordered to do so. He acknowledged that he was the one who spoke first when he saw the guards approaching and asked, "Where y'all bringing me?" Kron described Seal's demand for him to exit the bull pen as "put[ting] fear inside [him]," to which he complied.
Kron testified that, on the way back to Sleet Unit, Kron's shackles kept "ramming into [his] legs" and "cutting [his] legs up around [his] shin bone, . . . the back of [his] Achilles tendon heels [and his] ankle bones." He said that the shackles continued cutting him as the officers led him to the front of Sleet Unit. He testified that when he and theguards reached his cell, Seal and Alford "dropped" him on the floor, and Seal left Kron with Alford. Kron stated that Alford removed his leg shackles and made him step into the cell. He said that after the cell door shut, Alford put his arms through the cell bars to remove Kron's leather waist belt, at which point Kron discovered that he had "about a three-inch hole on the side of [his] arm where [his] incision used to be." Kron described the leather waist belt as attached to his handcuffs, which were still on his wrists. He testified that he put his wrists through the tray hatch of his cell, and Alford began removing his right handcuff. He said that he told Alford, "Look, I'm letting you know right now that I'm filing a complaint against you for busting open my incision and using excessive force against me."
Kron testified that, in response to his statement that he was going to file a complaint against the guards, Alford and Seal again used excessive force. According to Kron, Alford slammed the right handcuff back onto Kron's wrist and said, "'Oh yeah, you stupid bitch,'" stepped back about two feet, and started yanking on Kron's waist belt, which was still attached to his handcuffs, "hard, like tug-of-war hard." Kron testified that Alford "yanked [him] all the way through the bars," slamming his shoulders, chin and biceps into the tray hatch "for like...
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