Judges: Per Curiam
Filed: May 24, 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Summary: NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed.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 May 21, 2018* Decided May 24, 2018 Before JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge No. 17-1789 DAVID E. SCHEURICH, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Southern District of Illinois. v. No. 16-cv-876-JPG JOHN DOE 1 and JOHN DOE 2, J. Phil
Summary: NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION To be cited only in accordance with Fed.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 May 21, 2018* Decided May 24, 2018 Before JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge No. 17-1789 DAVID E. SCHEURICH, Appeal from the United States District Plaintiff-Appellant, Court for the Southern District of Illinois. v. No. 16-cv-876-JPG JOHN DOE 1 and JOHN DOE 2, J. Phil G..
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NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION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 May 21, 2018*
Decided May 24, 2018
Before
JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge
MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge
DIANE S. SYKES, Circuit Judge
No. 17‐1789
DAVID E. SCHEURICH, Appeal from the United States District
Plaintiff‐Appellant, Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
v. No. 16‐cv‐876‐JPG
JOHN DOE 1 and JOHN DOE 2, J. Phil Gilbert,
Defendants‐Appellees. Judge.
O R D E R
David Scheurich, a one‐time fugitive from Illinois, filed suit under 42 U.S.C.
§ 1983 seeking damages from two Illinois agents who transported him from Arkansas to
Illinois in order to serve his sentence. He contends that the transfer violated the
U.S. Constitution and laws, as well as the Arkansas Uniform Criminal Extradition Act.
See U.S. CONST. art. IV, § 2, cl. 2; 18 U.S.C. § 3182; ARK. CODE ANN. §§ 16‐94‐201 to ‐231.
* The defendants were not served with process in the district court and are not
participating in this appeal. We agreed to decide the case without oral argument
because the brief and record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral
argument would not significantly aid the court. FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C).
No. 17‐1789 Page 2
The judge dismissed Scheurich’s suit as barred by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994),
because his claim for damages assumes that his Illinois criminal judgment is invalid.
We agree with the district court’s analysis and affirm the judgment.
In reviewing the dismissal, we accept Scheurich’s allegations as true and draw all
reasonable inferences in his favor. See Hill v. Serv. Emps. Int’l Union, 850 F.3d 861, 863
(7th Cir.), cert. denied, 138 S. Ct. 446 (2017). Scheurich became a fugitive from Illinois in
2014. He had pleaded guilty in Illinois state court to driving under the influence of
alcohol, his fourth conviction. The judge released Scheurich, ordering him to appear for
sentencing two months later. When Scheurich did not appear, the judge sentenced him
in absentia to seven years in prison.
Arkansas authorities found Scheurich a year later. They detained him in
June 2015, and Illinois sought to extradite him. Scheurich challenged the extradition
through an application for a writ of habeas corpus. See ARK. CODE ANN. § 16‐94‐210. As
required by the Arkansas Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, Scheurich appeared before
an Arkansas state judge who determined that Illinois had followed the necessary
procedural requirements but that the Governor of Arkansas had not yet signed the
required paperwork. See id. §§ 16‐94‐203, ‐207. The judge ruled, therefore, that Arkansas
would continue to detain Scheurich until the court held a follow‐up hearing to
reevaluate the extradition demand. See id. §§ 16‐94‐207, ‐210. Scheurich’s counsel asked
if Illinois could just “come and get” Scheurich before the next hearing, and the judge
responded, “[a]bsolutely not.” Nonetheless, before the follow‐up hearing, two Illinois
agents transported Scheurich back to Illinois against his objections. He is currently in
Illinois custody serving the seven‐year sentence.
Scheurich contends on appeal that because these two agents extradited him
before the Arkansas court had resolved his application for a writ of habeas corpus, the
judge should not have dismissed his damages suit as Heck‐barred. But Heck precludes a
§ 1983 suit for damages against state officials if recovery would necessarily imply the
invalidity of a still‐intact criminal judgment. 512 U.S. at 487. For the reasons we gave in
Knowlin v. Thompson, 207 F.3d 907 (7th Cir. 2000), that is the situation here. There we
explained that an extradited prisoner serving a sentence under a valid criminal
judgment may not recover damages based merely on “the denial of an opportunity to
test the facial validity of the extradition demand.” Id. at 909. Recovery of damages is
possible only if extradition subjected the prisoner to a greater loss of liberty than would
have occurred under the proper procedure. Id. But we concluded that a prisoner could
prove that only by showing that he “was not, in fact, extraditable through proper
No. 17‐1789 Page 3
procedures”—i.e., that the underlying judgment was invalid. Id. That showing “would
necessarily imply the invalidity of” Scheurich’s current prison sentence because it
would require him to demonstrate that Illinois should not have imprisoned him at all,
and “Heck instructs [that it] cannot be shown through a § 1983 suit.” Id. Thus until
Scheurich can show that his imprisonment has been invalidated, Heck bars this damages
suit.
AFFIRMED.