Eddie Frias v. G. Marshall

MEMORANDUM

Eddie Frias, a California inmate, brought suit against a prison official, Gerald Marshall, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , challenging the reliability of the evidence used by Marshall to recommend that Frias be validated as a member of the “Mexican Mafia” prison gang. As a result of this validation, Frias was transferred to the Secure Housing Unit (“SHU”). After the evidence was presented to the jury and before jury deliberations, the district court entered judgment as a matter of law for Marshall. Frias brought this appeal, contending that the case should have been sent to the jury because there were material contested facts.

Assuming that the “some evidence” inquiry, see Bruce v. Ylst, 351 F.3d 1283, 1287 (9th Cir.2003), was part of the procedural due process claim that Frias preserved for trial, the fact that neither the district judge nor the jury considered whether there was “some evidence,” bearing “indicia of reliability,” to establish that Frias was an associate of a prison gang was error under Castro v. Terhune, 712 F.3d 1304, 1314 (9th Cir.2013). But here, as in Castro , remand would be “pointless,” because there was “some evidence” in the record to support the…