Filed: Jun. 05, 2000
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 99-40518 Summary Calendar ASH BABTUNDE BAKRE, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus ALLEN B. POLUNSKY, Chairman Board of Criminal Justice; WAYNE SCOTT, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice; GARY L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division; C.T. O’REILLY, Warden, Gurney Unit; BRENDA CHANEY, Assistant Warden, Gurney Unit; E.W. SMITH, Major, Gurney Unit; C. TRUITT, Correctional Officer III, Gurney
Summary: IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 99-40518 Summary Calendar ASH BABTUNDE BAKRE, Plaintiff-Appellant, versus ALLEN B. POLUNSKY, Chairman Board of Criminal Justice; WAYNE SCOTT, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice; GARY L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division; C.T. O’REILLY, Warden, Gurney Unit; BRENDA CHANEY, Assistant Warden, Gurney Unit; E.W. SMITH, Major, Gurney Unit; C. TRUITT, Correctional Officer III, Gurney ..
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 99-40518
Summary Calendar
ASH BABTUNDE BAKRE,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
ALLEN B. POLUNSKY, Chairman Board of Criminal Justice;
WAYNE SCOTT, Director, Texas Department of Criminal
Justice; GARY L. JOHNSON, Director, Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, Institutional Division; C.T. O’REILLY,
Warden, Gurney Unit; BRENDA CHANEY, Assistant Warden,
Gurney Unit; E.W. SMITH, Major, Gurney Unit; C. TRUITT,
Correctional Officer III, Gurney Unit; C. KYLE, Medical
Administrator, Gurney Unit; HIGGINS, Captain,
Defendants-Appellees.
--------------------
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Texas
USDC No. 6:98-CV-444
--------------------
June 2, 2000
Before KING, Chief Judge, and JOLLY and PARKER, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Ash Bakre (Texas prisoner #784509) appeals the magistrate
judge’s final judgment dismissing his civil rights suit brought
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Both parties consented to magistrate
jurisdiction below. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c); Fed. R. Civ.
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
No. 99-40518
-2-
P. 73(b). After conducting a Spears1 hearing, the magistrate
judge dismissed all but one of Bakre’s claims under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915A(b) as frivolous or for failure to state a claim. The
magistrate judge then conducted a bench trial on Bakre’s sole
remaining claim that he was subjected to the excessive use of
force by Appellee Christopher Truitt. On appeal, Bakre does not
challenge the pretrial dismissal of his claims under § 1915A(b).
Consequently, he has abandoned those claims. See Yohey v.
Collins,
985 F.2d 222, 224-25 (5th Cir. 1993). Instead, his
appellate arguments are confined to his consent to magistrate
jurisdiction and to the magistrate judge’s rejection of his
excessive-force claim against Truitt.
As the appellant, Bakre had the responsibility of ordering
parts of the record which he contends contain error. See Fed.
R. App. P. 10(b)(1)(A), (2); Richardson v. Henry,
902 F.2d 414,
415-16 (5th Cir. 1990); United States v. O’Brien,
898 F.2d 983,
985 (5th Cir. 1990). Because Bakre has not provided this court
with a copy of the trial transcript, Truitt maintains that
Bakre’s appeal should be dismissed. A review of Bakre’s
appellate issues reveals that two of them can be addressed
without the trial transcript. Accordingly, we decline to dismiss
Bakre’s entire appeal outright.
Bakre first contends that the magistrate judge’s final
comments at the Spears hearing effectively coerced him into
consenting to magistrate jurisdiction. Bakre’s contention is
unavailing. The record reflects that Bakre declined to consent
1
Spears v. McCotter,
766 F.2d 179 (5th Cir. 1985).
No. 99-40518
-3-
to magistrate jurisdiction at the end of the Spears hearing. The
magistrate judge accepted Bakre’s decision. Bakre admittedly
contacted the magistrate judge approximately one week later and,
when a written consent form was sent to him shortly thereafter,
signed the consent form acknowledging that he was “voluntarily
consent[ing]” to magistrate jurisdiction. Given these
circumstances, Bakre has not shown that his consent was
involuntary.
Bakre next contends that the magistrate judge erred in
commencing the trial without requiring the presence of Ms.
Fields, an TDCJ-ID attorney who represented him at a prison
disciplinary hearing, as a trial witness. He makes a
conclusional statement that Ms. Fields could confirm Truitt’s
“acceptance to appellant’s ‘Original Petition’ against him.”
Bakre’s conclusional statement regarding Fields’ proposed
testimony is insufficient to show that relevant testimony was
excluded as a result of Fields’ absence from the trial. See
Cupit v. Jones,
835 F.2d 82, 86 (5th Cir. 1987). It likewise
does not demonstrate a substantial showing of need for Fields’
testimony. See
id. at 86-87. Accordingly, Bakre has not shown
that the magistrate judge abused her discretion in refusing to
require Fields’ presence as a trial witness. See
id.
Bakre also argues that the magistrate judge erred: (1) in
commencing the trial without requiring the defense to produce
(i) an audiocassette recording of the prison disciplinary hearing
concerning the incident with Truitt and (ii) Lieutenant Mark
Meador, the correctional officer who investigated the incident;
No. 99-40518
-4-
(2) in allowing all defense witnesses to remain in the courtroom
during the trial; (3) in determining that Truitt did not use
unnecessary force and that Bakre’s neck problems were unrelated
to the incident with Truitt; (4) in eliciting trial testimony
about Bakre’s offense of conviction; and (5) in continuously
interrupting Bakre and his witnesses during trial. These issues
are unreviewable without the trial transcript. See Fed. R. App.
P. 10(b)(2);
Richardson, 902 F.2d at 416; United States v.
Hinojosa,
958 F.2d 624, 632-33 (5th Cir. 1992). Accordingly,
Bakre’s appeal is dismissed with respect to these issues. See
Richardson, 902 F.2d at 416.
APPEAL DISMISSED IN PART; JUDGMENT OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE
AFFIRMED.