Litigation

When Ricky Sanabria, Jr. told a jail officer that he feared an attack by his increasingly aggressive cellmate, the officer moved him—but less than two hours later, the officer locked Mr. Sanabria back in with the cellmate. The very next day, the furious cellmate bit off Mr. Sanabria’s ear. After Mr. Sanabria sued, the district...

Calvin Williams, a person incarcerated in Missouri, tried to file a lawsuit to vindicate his rights—but a court wrongly dismissed his civil rights case under a misapplication of the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s “three-strikes” rule. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting to ensure that courts don’t erroneously deny people in prison access to the courts.

After Charlie Washington was sentenced to death, it came to light that his trial attorneys had failed to investigate and present an avalanche of mitigating evidence that made a powerful case for life. Nonetheless, Alabama courts rejected Mr. Washington’s claim that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel, relying on egregious misunderstandings of how capital jurors process evidence. The MacArthur Justice Center, representing eight leading scholars, is urging a federal appellate court to heed the research on jury decisionmaking and vacate Mr. Washington’s death sentence.

Officer Xeng Lor shot our client, Xyavier Calliste, twice through the driver’s side door of his car as Mr. Calliste was leaving a parking garage at the Charlotte airport. Recognizing that Lor faced no imminent threat that would justify deadly force, the district court denied Lor summary judgment and qualified immunity. MacArthur Justice Center co-counseled with civil rights attorney Micheal Littlejohn Jr. to represent Mr. Calliste on appeal and ensure that he can go to trial to vindicate his Fourth Amendment rights.

Our client was criminally tried before a jury of only 6 of his peers, despite the fact that for hundreds of years the common law practice—and the practice in a vast majority of states and in the federal system—is a jury of 12. The MacArthur Justice Center is urging the Supreme Court to overturn its wrong and outdated precedent that allows for this practice, in violation of individuals’ Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.

While incarcerated at a prison in Northern California, Mr. Simms received nasal surgery at a nearby hospital. Although he was lethargic and disoriented following the surgery, two prison officers rushed Mr. Simms back to the prison—ignoring his complaints that he was having difficulty breathing, coughing up blood and experiencing severe pain—so that they could get off work on time.

Imposing assessments on indigent persons that are beyond their ability to pay seriously threatens equal access to justice. This system results results in people saddled with burdensome fees that keep them ensnared in the criminal legal system.

Civil plaintiffs have an absolute right to voluntarily withdraw their cases. Yet, when Edward Spencer, an incarcerated plaintiff, did so, a federal district court later punished him by deeming that withdrawal a “strike” under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). That was wrong.

Joseph Vidal sued New York prison officials for violating his procedural due process rights after he was unable to introduce key witness testimony during the disciplinary hearing that resulted in his placement in solitary confinement for nearly nine months.

People incarcerated at Algoa Correctional Center in Missouri – a nearly 100-year-old prison without air conditioning – are forced to suffer through inhumane and dangerously hot conditions every summer in violation of their constitutional rights. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting for the health and safety of our clients by demanding that Missouri Department of Corrections maintain safe and humane conditions for people confined at Algoa.