Mike Hernandez v. George S. Whiting, and Jack H. Gang Santos Saldivar Larry Joe Holt William M. Slane

Mike Hernandez appeals the district court’s dismissal of his civil rights suit, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982), for failure to prosecute. Hernandez, a prisoner in custody of the State of California, did not appear in court on the first day of jury trial or for a pretrial conference. The district judge immediately dismissed his action. Because the district court dismissed Hernandez’ suit without first considering less drastic alternatives, we reverse and remand for a reconsideration of the dismissal.

I.

Hernandez is serving in the California state prison system an indeterminate sentence of seventeen years to life with the possibility of parole. He alleges that in January, 1982, while in pretrial detention at the San Luis Obispo County jail, deputy sheriffs drugged him, beat him, and then locked him in an isolation cell for three days without clothing, water, or a mattress to sleep on. Hernandez filed pro se a civil rights suit against the officers in October, 1983, and an amended complaint in February, 1984. The parties went through an extensive period of preparatory activity in which they filed various papers, sought and received continuances, conducted discovery, submitted and…