Onofre T. Serrano v. S.W. Francis

Onofre Tommy Serrano, a wheelchair-bound black prison inmate, appeals the district court’s adverse decisions in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging that prison officials denied him due process and equal protection by refusing to allow him to present live witness testimony during a prison disciplinary hearing. First, we must decide whether the district court erred in dismissing Serrano’s due process claim without leave to amend when it held that he could not, as a matter of law, plead a protected liberty interest — namely, the freedom from administrative segregation — that was affected by the denial of due process. Second, we must determine whether the district court improperly granted summary judgment on Serrano’s equal protection claim in fight of evidence presented as to whether a prison officer’s decision to deny the requested witness testimony during his disciplinary hearing was racially motivated. In so doing, we hold that Officer S.W. Francis is entitled to qualified immunity as to the due process claim, but conclude that the -district court erred in granting summary judgment on the equal protection claim because Serrano raised a genuine issue of material fact as…