Judges: Per Curiam
Filed: Aug. 17, 2018
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Submitted August 15, 2018* Decided August 17, 2018 Before MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge No. 17-2007 KENNETH BROWN, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Central District of Illinois. v. No. 3:13-cv-03347 MICHAEL E. KNISLEY and Harold
Summary: NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit Chicago, Illinois 60604 Submitted August 15, 2018* Decided August 17, 2018 Before MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge No. 17-2007 KENNETH BROWN, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Central District of Illinois. v. No. 3:13-cv-03347 MICHAEL E. KNISLEY and Harold A..
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NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION
To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
United States Court of Appeals
For the Seventh Circuit
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Submitted August 15, 2018*
Decided August 17, 2018
Before
MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge
AMY C. BARRETT, Circuit Judge
MICHAEL B. BRENNAN, Circuit Judge
No. 17‐2007
KENNETH BROWN, Appeal from the United States District
Plaintiff‐Appellant, Court for the Central District of Illinois.
v. No. 3:13‐cv‐03347
MICHAEL E. KNISLEY and Harold A. Baker,
JOHN HAMILTON, Judge.
Defendants‐Appellees.
O R D E R
Kenneth Brown, an Illinois inmate, sued two correctional officers for violating his
constitutional rights. A jury found in favor of the officers. Brown appeals, but he has
waived his arguments by failing to adequately brief them or to submit the necessary
transcripts. We dismiss the appeal.
Brown sued Knisley and Hamilton under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for using excessive
force in violation of the Eighth Amendment and for preventing him from mailing
correspondence in violation of the First Amendment. During pretrial proceedings,
* We have agreed to decide this case without oral argument because the appeal is
frivolous. FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(A).
No. 17‐2007 Page 2
Brown asked several times for surveillance footage of altercations between him,
Knisley, and Hamilton. In an unrelated brief, the officers reported that the prison had
informed them that no footage existed. After an unsuccessful settlement conference, the
court recruited counsel for Brown. These attorneys conducted additional discovery to
investigate, among other things, whether video footage existed; none ever surfaced. The
district court denied Brown’s request for a spoliation‐of‐evidence instruction at trial.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of Knisley and Hamilton.
On appeal we infer that Brown wishes to challenge the evidence underlying the
verdict, but he has not submitted transcripts of the trial or pretrial proceedings, see FED.
R. APP. P. 10(b)(2). An appellant challenging the sufficiency of the evidence must submit
a transcript for there to be meaningful appellate review. Morsich v. United States,
653 F.3d 522, 529 (7th Cir. 2011). Brown’s pro se status does not exempt him from that
requirement. See Woods v. Thieret, 5 F.3d 244, 245 (7th Cir. 1993). Brown attests that the
district court prevented him from obtaining transcripts despite “numerous” requests.
But he does not support that assertion with any detail, and we find in the record only
one letter asking how to obtain transcripts. Although Brown apparently received no
response, almost 10 months passed before he filed his appellate brief—ample time for
Brown to contact, for example, the court reporter, his former attorneys, the district court
clerk’s office or ours, or otherwise learn how to order transcripts.
We decline to rely on Brown’s characterization of the trial testimony to assess
whether sufficient evidence supports the jury verdict. Nor will we review without the
voir dire transcript Brown’s unsupported and dubious claim that the jury (or the
venire—we cannot discern) solely comprised Department of Corrections employees.
Last, Brown has not sufficiently developed his argument that the district court
“allowed the Defendants to get away with hiding the video footage.” Brown does not
identify a specific ruling that he believes was erroneous, nor does he present a cogent
argument with reasoning to support it. See FED. R. APP. P. 28(a)(8); Anderson v. Hardman,
241 F.3d 544, 545 (7th Cir. 2001).
The appeal is DISMISSED.