Thornton v. Brown

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
• Writing for the Court: GRABER
• Citation: Thornton v. Brown, 724 F.3d 1255 (9th Cir. 2013)
• Decision Date: 31 July 2013
• Docket Number: No. 11–56146.,11–56146.
• Parties: William Cecil THORNTON, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Edmund G. BROWN, Jr., Governor of California; Matthew Cate, Secretary of Corrections; Lewis, John Doe, Parole Unit Supervisor; Mark Joseph, Parole Agent; Christine Cavalin, Parole Agent; John Doe # 1, Parole Agent, Defendants–Appellees.

724 F.3d 1255

William Cecil THORNTON, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Edmund G. BROWN, Jr.,^* Governor of California; Matthew Cate, Secretary of Corrections; Lewis, John Doe, Parole Unit Supervisor; Mark Joseph, Parole Agent; Christine Cavalin, Parole Agent; John Doe # 1, Parole Agent, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 11–56146.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Nov. 9, 2012.

Filed July 31, 2013.

Karen Gal–Or (argued) and Craig E. Stewart, Jones Day, San Francisco, CA, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

Jose A. Zelidon–Zepeda (argued), Deputy Attorney General; Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General of California; Jonathan L. Wolff, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Thomas S. Patterson, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, San Francisco, CA, for Defendants–Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California,Ruben B. Brooks, Magistrate Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. 3:10–cv–01583–RBB.

Before: MYRON H. BRIGHT,^**SUSAN P. GRABER, and SANDRA S. IKUTA, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge GRABER; Dissent by Judge IKUTA.

OPINION

GRABER, Circuit Judge:

In this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Plaintiff William Cecil Thornton brings a constitutional challenge to the imposition and enforcement of two conditions of his parole: a residency restriction and a requirement that he submit to electronic monitoring using a Global Positioning System (“GPS”) device. Citing Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 489–90, 93 S.Ct. 1827, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973), and Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 487, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), the district court concluded that habeas corpus provided the exclusive federal remedy for Plaintiff's claims and dismissed the action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim.

The Supreme Court has not directly considered the application of the Heck doctrine to § 1983 actions that challenge conditions of parole. Among the courts of appeals, only the Seventh Circuit has done so, in Drollinger v. Milligan, 552 F.2d 1220 (7th Cir.1977), and Williams v. Wisconsin, 336 F.3d 576 (7th Cir.2003). Consistent with Supreme Court precedent and that of our sister circuit, we hold that such an action is not barred by Heck if it is not a collateral attack on either the fact of a parolee's confinement as a parolee or the parolee's underlying conviction or sentence. Because we conclude that Petitioner's action is not such an attack, we reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

California's Sex Offender Registration Act requires certain convicted sex offenders to register with law enforcement officials in the communities in which they reside. Cal.Penal Code §§ 290(c), 290.005(a). California's Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act of 2006—also known as Jessica's Law or Proposition 83—imposes several requirements that apply to parolees who, as sex offenders, are subject to that duty to register. One of those requirements is a residency restriction according to which a person who is required to register may not “reside within 2000 feet of any public or private school, or park where children regularly gather.” Id. § 3003.5(b). Another requirement is that any person who is convicted of a “registerable sex offense” as defined by section 290(c)—a section which enumerates various sex offenses under California law—must submit to electronic monitoring by a GPS device, either for the duration of that person's parole or for life. Id. §§ 3000.07(a), 3004(b). The state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“the Department”) also has discretionary authority to require any parolee to submit to electronic monitoring. See id. § 3010(a) (providing that “the [Department] may utilize continuous electronic monitoring to electronically monitor the whereabouts of persons on parole”).

In 2011, a California trial court ruled that section 3003.5(b)'s residency restriction, when applied to all registered sex offenders as a “blanket” parole condition, was unconstitutional. In re Taylor, 147 Cal.Rptr.3d 64, 67–68 (Ct.App.2012). The appellate court affirmed the lower court's order, which prohibited the “blanket enforcement of the residency restriction”; but the court also held that the Department “may, after consideration of a parolee's particularized circumstances, impose a special parole condition that mirrors section 3003.5(b) or one that is more or less restrictive.” Id. at 83–84.¹

In 1987, Plaintiff pleaded guilty in Tennessee to sexual battery. In 2006, he was convicted in California of buying or receiving stolen property and was sentenced to a 16–month term of imprisonment. California law requires a period of parole or supervised release following such a prison term, Cal.Penal Code § 3000, and when Plaintiff was released in June 2008, he received a three-year parole term. Citing Plaintiff's previous Tennessee offense, the Department imposed, as parole conditions, a GPS monitoring requirement (pursuant to section 3010 of the Penal Code) and a residency restriction prohibiting him from living within 2000 feet of schools or parks where children gather (pursuant to section 3003.5(b)). Plaintiff was later convicted of robbery and was sentenced to a three-year prison term for that offense, pursuant to California Penal Code section 1170. Again, California law required a term of parole to follow his sentence. Cal.Penal Code § 3000. While he was in prison, the Department issued new parole conditions that would apply upon his release. Those conditions included the same GPS monitoring requirement and residency restriction.

During his second prison term, Plaintiff filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking both monetary and injunctive relief. He alleges that the Department violated his constitutional rights by imposing the GPS monitoring requirement and residency restriction as parole conditions and by enforcing those conditions in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner. The district court reasoned that, as a parolee, Plaintiff was “in custody” within the meaning of the federal habeas corpus statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2254. It further reasoned that, under the Heck doctrine, a habeas petition is the exclusive means by which Plaintiff can challenge a condition of his parole. Accordingly, the district court dismissed the claim.

Plaintiff timely appeals. We review de novo the legal issues presented here. Barker v. Riverside Cnty. Office of Educ., 584 F.3d 821, 824 (9th Cir.2009).

DISCUSSION

A. Immunity

Plaintiff's claims against the Governor, the Secretary of Corrections, and a Parole Unit Supervisor are limited to injunctive relief. See Will v. Mich. Dep't of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71, 109 S.Ct. 2304, 105 L.Ed.2d 45 (1989) (citing Eleventh Amendment considerations and holding that § 1983 does not permit suits for damages against states); Doe v. Lawrence Livermore Nat'l Lab., 131 F.3d 836, 839 (9th Cir.1997) (holding that “state officials sued in their official capacities are not ‘persons' within the meaning of § 1983” except when “sued for prospective injunctive relief ”). Neither absolute nor qualified immunity bars Plaintiff's claims against those defendants. See, e.g., Buckwalter v. Nev. Bd. of Med. Exam'rs, 678 F.3d 737, 747 (9th Cir.2012) (“Absolute immunity is not a bar to injunctive or declaratory relief.”); Vance v. Barrett, 345 F.3d 1083, 1091 n. 10 (9th Cir.2003) (“[A] defense of qualified immunity is not available for prospective injunctive relief.”).

Absolute immunity does bar Plaintiff's claims for damages against his parole officers for imposing allegedly unconstitutional parole conditions. We have held that absolute immunity “extend[s] to parole officials for the ‘imposition of parole conditions' ” because that task is “integrally related to an official's decision to grant or revoke parole,” which is a “quasi-judicial” function. Swift v. California, 384 F.3d 1184, 1189 (9th Cir.2004) (quoting Anderson v. Boyd, 714 F.2d 906, 909 (9th Cir.1983)). Both parole conditions currently in effect were imposed through particularized and discretionary decisions by parole officers. The GPS condition was imposed pursuant to the Department's discretionary authority under section 3010 of the California Penal Code,² and the residency restriction “mirrors” section 3003.5(b), which, as interpreted by the California courts, permits such a condition only “after consideration of a parolee's particularized circumstances.” Taylor, 147 Cal.Rptr.3d at 83–84. Accordingly, the parole officers are absolutely immune with respect to Plaintiff's claims for damages arising from the imposition of those conditions.

Absolute immunity does not extend, though, to Plaintiff's claim that the parole officers enforced the conditions of his parole in an unconstitutionally arbitrary or discriminatory manner. Parole officers' “immunity for conduct arising from their duty to supervise parolees is qualified.” Anderson, 714 F.2d at 910. Plaintiff's allegation that the officers enforced the residency restriction against him but not against similarly situated parolees relates to the manner in which Defendants implemented that condition—an element of their supervisory function. Absolute immunity therefore does not apply to Plaintiff's enforcement—based claim. However, the district court also dismissed this claim as barred by qualified immunity. On appeal, Plaintiff does not challenge that ruling except to the extent that it bars him from pursuing injunctive relief. Because qualified immunity does not bar injunctive relief, Vance, 345 F.3d at 1091, Plaintiff may assert his non-monetary claim arising from the allegedly discriminatory enforcement of his parole conditions.

B. Heck Doctrine

With respect to his claims for injunctive relief, the question remains whether Plaintiff appropriately brought those claims under § 1983 instead of through a petition for habeas corpus.

Persons subject to state custody generally “have two potential avenues to remedy violations of their federal...