Thomas v. Gabriel

Full title: JAMMAL THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. JACK GABRIEL, Defendant.

Court: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY CENTRAL DIVISION (at Lexington)

Date published: Jan 2, 2018

Civil Action No. 5: 17-508-DCR (E.D. Ky. Jan. 2, 2018)

Opinion

Civil Action No. 5: 17-508-DCR

01-02-2018

JAMMAL THOMAS, Plaintiff, v. JACK GABRIEL, Defendant.

Danny C. Reeves United States District Judge

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

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Inmate Jammal Thomas is currently confined at the Bourbon County Regional Detention Center in Paris, Kentucky. Proceeding without a lawyer, Thomas filed a civil rights complaint against Kentucky State Police Officer Jack Gabriel. [Record No. 1]. Thomas claims that, during a traffic stop, Officer Gabriel found drugs on his person by virtue of an illegal search and seizure in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. [Record No. 1 at 3-4, 11-12]. While Thomas is still a pretrial detainee awaiting trial on related state criminal charges, he contends that he has already "suffered several losses" and, therefore, is seeking "recompensation" for his current situation. [Record No. 1 at 5].

The Court will dismiss, without prejudice, Thomas's Fourth Amendment claim against Officer Gabriel pursuant to the doctrine announced in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971). That doctrine provides that a federal court should generally abstain from interfering in an ongoing state court action that involves an important state interest, and provides an adequate opportunity to raise constitutional challenges. See Fieger v. Cox, 524 F.3d 770, 775 (6th Cir. 2008) (discussing Younger abstention). Here, the state criminal case against Thomas is ongoing,¹ and that matter obviously involves an important state interest. Further, Thomas has the opportunity to raise challenges to the charges against him during that criminal proceeding. Therefore, this Court will abstain from interfering in Thomas's criminal case, just as it "has abstained from meddling in . . . [other] state court criminal actions." Stevenson v. Motors, No. 5: 16-cv-421-KKC, 2017 WL 512750, *3 (E.D. Ky. 2017) (collecting cases). Accordingly, it is hereby

1 The Court takes judicial notice of the publically available docket sheet in Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Jammal Thomas, No. 17-CR-00055 (2017). --------

ORDERED as follows:

1. Thomas's Fourth Amendment claim against Officer Gabriel is DISMISSED, without prejudice.

2. This action is DISMISSED and STRICKEN from the Court's docket.

3. A corresponding judgment will be entered this date.

This 2^nd day of January, 2018.

Signed By:

Danny C . Reeves

United States District Judge