Metoyer v. Holman

• Citation: 358 F.2d 110
• Decision Date: 05 April 1966
• Docket Number: No. 22973.,22973.
• Parties: Gregory METOYER, Appellant, v. William C. HOLMAN et al., Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

358 F.2d 110 (1966)

Gregory METOYER, Appellant, v. William C. HOLMAN et al., Appellees.

No. 22973.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

April 5, 1966.

Gregory Metoyer, Montgomery, Ala., for appellant.

W. Mark Anderson, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., Montgomery, Ala., for appellees.

Before RIVES and THORNBERRY, Circuit Judges, and GARZA, District Judge.

GARZA, District Judge.

This was a diversity action for damages resulting from personal injuries sustained by an Alabama State convict alleged to be a citizen of California, who was shot by a prison guard while attempting to escape.

Appellant was a member of a squad of twenty prisoners who were picking butterbeans in a field near Kilby Prison on the afternoon of September 18, 1963. This squad was being guarded by Appellee I. B. Heath, a custodial officer at Kilby, and another squad with one guard was picking beans nearby. Appellant began crawling away from the other men in an admitted attempt to escape, but was still partially visible among the rows of beans and weeds when Heath discovered that a man was missing and spotted Appellant. Heath fired one shot from his shotgun, and after falling down and running some distance fired another shot which wounded Appellant in the arm and shoulder. Appellant was taken to the prison hospital where he was treated by attendants and seen by the prison doctor the next morning, September 19, 1963. On the same day he was transferred to St. Margaret's Hospital and underwent surgery on his arm on the morning of September 20th for damage to an artery and vein inflicted by a shotgun pellet which passed between them, resulting in permanent disability of the left arm.

Appellant sought leave in the court below to bring a damage suit in forma pauperis for the total amount of $100,000, alleging damages of $25,000 each against Governor George C. Wallace, Commissioner A. Frank Lee of the Board of Corrections, Kilby Warden William C. Holman and Officer I. B. Heath. The district judge denied leave to file the complaint against the Governor and the Commissioner, but ordered it filed against the warden and Officer Heath, and appointed counsel who represented Appellant throughout the trial.

After discovery and pretrial proceedings, the case went to trial before a jury on April 21, 1965. At the close of Appellant's evidence, the court granted Warden Holman's motion for directed verdict and denied that of Officer Heath, who proceeded to put on his defense. At the close of all the evidence motions for directed verdict by Appellant and Appellee Heath were denied, and the case was submitted to the jury on a general charge by the court. On April 22nd the jury returned a verdict in favor of Heath, and the court entered judgments in favor of Appellees. Appellant's motion for new trial was denied on April 29, 1965.

We granted leave to appeal in forma pauperis, with the transcript of the testimony to be transcribed at Government expense, and Appellant pro se assigns as error the directed verdict for Warden Holman, the verdict for Officer Heath contrary to the law and the evidence, various rulings on evidence during the course of the trial, prejudice by the court in its charge to the jury, and the ineffectiveness of Appellant's court-appointed attorney, alleged by Appellant to be a personal friend of the warden.

The testimony of Appellant's fellow convicts as to the circumstances of the attempted escape and subsequent shooting was to the effect that when Officer Heath discovered Appellant's absence and saw him crawling away, he became very excited, used abusive language, fired one shot at Appellant, fell down and then advanced to within about thirty-five yards of Appellant and fired a second shot, threatening all the while that he was going to kill Appellant...