Viramontes v. City of Chicago

Viramontes was charged with mob action, aggravated assault, and resisting arrest, arising out of an incident at a Puerto Rican street festival in Chicago. The state court judge held, “I find the Defendant guilty of resisting a police officer and aggravated assault in that he took a substantial step and actively swung in the direction of the police officer and missed,” and that “after the Defendant swung … he did actively resist” and sentenced Viramontes to 100 days’ imprisonment. Viramontes then sued officers involved in the arrest and the city, alleging that the officers used excessive force. A jury returned a verdict for the defendants on Viramontes’s claims. Viramontes unsuccessfully moved for a new trial, arguing attorney misconduct and procedural and evidentiary errors. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. Because the 42 U.S.C. 1983 claim involved the incident for which Viramontes was convicted of aggravated assault and resisting arrest, the claim implicated the Supreme Court’s holding in Heck v. Humphrey, that such a claim is barred if it “necessarily impl[ies] the invalidity of his conviction.” While the excessive‐force claim was not inconsistent with Viramontes’s conviction, the court properly instructed the jury that the facts underlying the conviction had to be taken as true. View "Viramontes v. City of Chicago" on Justia Law