Charles Thomas Miller v. Joseph Barilla, Ass't District Attorney

Appellant, representing himself, having obtained his law degree while in prison, challenges the dismissal of his Civil Rights complaint. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . Appellant sought damages alleged to have been suffered by reason of the actions of the appellees, a trial judge, an assistant district attorney, and a deputy public defender, in entering into and breaching a plea bargain with appellant. On this appeal we accept appellant’s version of the “contract” and his allegations of breach. Under the plea-bargaining arrangement, appellant was to receive a one-year to life sentence, to run concurrently with a previously-imposed federal sentence, in exchange for appellant’s guilty plea to a charge of second-degree robbery. Appellant alleged that the representations of the appellees in regard to his sentence were false, thereby inducing him to waive his right to a trial and to accept the plea bargain which was not respected.

The district court, on its own motion and pursuant to the report and recommendation of a magistrate, dismissed the complaint and the action for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the district attorney and the trial judge were immune from suit under the Civil Rights Act…