Defender Found Protected From Inmate's Civil Rights Suit

A public defender cannot be sued for violating the civil rights of a prison inmate who was his client, a federal judge has ruled. Northern District Judge Thomas McAvoy held that public defenders are protected from such claims under 42 U.S.C. §1983, which can only be sustained against people found to be acting under color of state law. McAvoy noted in Morris v. Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office, 09-cv-1412, that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public defenders are not acting under color of state law when “performing a lawyer’s traditional functions as counsel to a defendant” (see Polk County v. Dodson, 454 U.S. 312 [1981]).

“Inasmuch as the allegations against Defendants arise solely within…the context of Plaintiff’s representation by his assigned public defender and concern only counsel’s performance of a ‘lawyer’s traditional functions,’ Defendants could not act under color of state law such to support Plaintiff’s causes of action against them pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §1983,” McAvoy wrote. He also found that Allen Morris failed to establish in his pro se action that his rights were violated by the representation he received from Jefferson County Assistant Public Defender Matthew Porter. McAvoy (See Profile) said the Morris’ guilty plea, which was upheld on appeal, negated the conclusion “his counsel acted in a constitutionally deficient manner.”