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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Filed 4/25/96
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
BIGLER JOBE STOUFFER, II, )
)
Plaintiff-Appellant, )
)
v. ) No. 95-6394
) (D.C. No. CIV-84-1395-A)
LARRY A. FIELDS, DOLORES RAMSEY, ) (W.D. Oklahoma)
DAN REYNOLDS, )
)
Defendant-Appellee. )
__________________________
ORDER AND JUDGMENT*
_________________________
Before BRORBY, EBEL and HENRY, Circuit Judges.
__________________________
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that
oral argument would not materially assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P.
34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The cause is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument.
Mr. Stouffer, a state inmate and pro se litigant, filed a civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
against three prison employees. The trial court granted defendants' summary judgment and Mr.
*
This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the
case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. The court generally disfavors the citation of orders and
judgments; nevertheless, an order and judgment may be cited under the terms and conditions of 10th
Cir. R. 36.3.
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Stouffer appeals. We affirm.
Mr. Stouffer has been convicted of a capital offense, sentenced to death and is currently
confined in a maximum security area of an Oklahoma prison. Mr. Stouffer filed his § 1983 suit
alleging he was denied Due Process under the Fourteenth Amendment by being forced to defend
himself against five prison misconduct reports during a time in which two conflicting disciplinary
policies were in effect. He also contended he was placed in administrative segregation without due
process.
A Martinez report was ordered and received and Mr. Stouffer was informed it was being
treated as a motion for summary judgment and his failure to respond could result in the court
declaring the facts supporting the motion as true. The report clearly showed the Department of
Corrections was only operating under one policy and Mr. Stouffer was never subjected to two
conflicting policies. The report further found the classification of an inmate into administrative
segregation does not involve deprivation of a liberty interest independently protected by the Due
Process Clause and Mr. Stouffer failed to set forth or show any state law or prison regulation which
gave him a liberty interest in remaining free from administrative segregation.
During the litigation Mr. Stouffer filed numerous requests for thousands of pages of
photocopying which the Magistrate Judge denied.
The matter was referred to a Magistrate Judge who concluded, inter alia, that Mr. Stouffer
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was never subjected to conflicting policies; Mr. Stouffer was never placed in administrative
segregation; that Mr. Stouffer failed to demonstrate any liberty interest in remaining free from
administrative segregation. The Magistrate Judge recommended entry of summary judgment in
favor of defendants.
The Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation together with Mr. Stouffer’s objections
thereto claiming a factual dispute was given to the District Court. The District Court concluded the
alleged factual disputes are irrelevant to the dispositive legal issues. The District Court then applied
Sandin v. Conner, 115 S.Ct. 2293, 2300 (1995), which held a prison inmate can show he has a
protected liberty interest at stake only if he demonstrates that he is entitled under state law "to
freedom from restraint which, while not exceeding the sentence in such an unexpected manner as
to give rise to protection by the Due Process Clause of its own force, ... imposes atypical and
significant hardship on the inmate in relation to the ordinary incidents of prison life" (internal
citations omitted). Specifically the trial court noted that Mr. Stouffer is serving a capital sentence
and is confined under maximum security conditions on death row. The trial court noted the
imposition of discipline did not result in loss of earned good time credits because Mr. Stouffer
accrues none. Further the trial court noted Mr. Stouffer made no attempt to show either disciplinary
or administrative segregation imposed an atypical and significant hardship on him in relation to the
ordinary incidents of prison life. Finally the trial court found the denial of some of Mr. Stouffer’s
requests for photocopies did not hamper his ability to present his claims in this or any other
litigation.
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Mr. Stouffer appeals the dismissal by initially noting "[i]t is difficult to understand how a
maximum security death row inmate housed in H-Unit at Oklahoma’s State Penitentiary could be
further deprived of his rights, however, Appellees have found several ways to circumvent the written
laws on Access to Court and on Due Process and on Cruel and Unusual Punishment to Punish and
deprive even Death Sentenced inmates further." What follows in his brief is a litany of numerous
complaints concerning the limitation of his time in the prison law library to 3 ½ hours per week;
charges that "many of the evidence documents have been confiscated and stolen or thrown away by
Appellees"; and asserting the cockroaches have more space in his cell than his legal data. Mr.
Stouffer spends considerable time in his brief speaking of injustices he has heard about concerning
other inmates. What Mr. Stouffer fails to do is to give us any citations or reasons informing us why
the trial court’s order was erroneous. He basically reargues his original allegations and adds
numerous others.
Mr. Stouffer’s brief is not persuasive. Mr. Stouffer fails to realize that to prevail on his
Fourteenth Amendment Due Process claim, he must first show some right under state law. This he
has failed to do. If he were able to show some right under state law, he must then make the showing
required by Sandin. This he has failed to do.
An inmate has no right to have all of his "evidentiary documents" photocopied. The
Magistrate Judge gave Mr. Stouffer the opportunity to summarize his evidence and even to copy it
by hand. Mr. Stouffer failed to do this. Even were we to assume the State somehow deprived Mr.
Stouffer of a right to have his documents photocopied, Mr. Stouffer has failed to inform this court
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how he was prejudiced by this alleged violation.
Finally, we cannot and will not consider issues raised for the first time on appeal. Neither
is this court an ombudsman accepting hearsay complaints of alleged injustices to other inmates.
The judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED for substantially the same reasons set forth
in the Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation filed August 31, 1995, and the order of the
trial court entered October 20, 1995, copies of both being attached hereto.
Entered for the Court:
WADE BRORBY
United States Circuit Judge
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