[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________ FILED
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 10-11096 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
Non-Argument Calendar OCTOBER 14, 2010
________________________ JOHN LEY
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 0:09-cv-61749-JIC
DERRICK DEVON GRIFFIN,
lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellant,
versus
JEFFREY R. LEVENSON,
ALFRED J. HOROWITZ,
MICHAEL J. SATZ,
JOEL SILVERSHEIN,
AL LAMBERTI, et al.,
llllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Florida
________________________
(October 14, 2010)
Before BARKETT, PRYOR and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Derrick Devon Griffin, a Florida prisoner, appeals the district court’s sua
sponte dismissal of his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim, alleging that the defendants acted
without authority during his Florida criminal prosecution. The court dismissed
Griffin’s complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief may be granted
under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(ii), after finding that Griffin’s § 1983 action
should have been brought as a habeas petition.
When a state prisoner is challenging the very fact or duration of his physical
imprisonment, and the relief he seeks is a determination that he is entitled to
immediate release or a speedier release from that imprisonment, his sole federal
remedy is a writ of habeas corpus. Preiser v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 475, 500, 93
S.Ct. 1827, 1841, 36 L.Ed.2d 439 (1973). “When a state prisoner seeks damages
in a § 1983 suit, the district court must consider whether a judgment in favor of the
plaintiff would necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence; if it
would, the complaint must be dismissed unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that
the conviction or sentence has already been invalidated.” Heck v. Humphrey, 512
U.S. 477, 487, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 2372, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994).
Griffin fails to show that his § 1983 does not challenge the validity of his
conviction and sentence. If the district court had found in favor of Griffin, then
his conviction would have been invalidated. The district court properly dismissed
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Griffin’s § 1983 claim as the incorrect vehicle for a challenge to his conviction
and sentence. See Heck, 512 U.S. at 481, 487, 114 S.Ct. at 2369, 2372.
Accordingly, we affirm the dismissal of Griffin’s complaint.
AFFIRMED.
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