Inmate’s appeal rejected by panel

Civil-rights case again denied

The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Tuesday rejected a civil-rights lawsuit filed by a state prisoner against a Jefferson County jailer he accused of using excessive force against an unruly inmate that resulted in the pepper-spraying of him and three other inmates while jailers were quelling a disturbance.

Earl Hall, 52, who is serving 25 years at the Tucker Unit on a 2018 burglary conviction, said in court papers that he has high blood pressure and passed out after he became ill from being pepper-sprayed. Hall said the incident happened on Dec. 18, 2018, while he was jailed on a parole hold and for pretrial detention on a new criminal charge when another inmate caused a disturbance during “pill call,” which he said led to the altercation.

Hall said that Tracy Taylor, a jail employee, sprayed three cans of the chemical into his cell and later repeatedly struck him in the back with a wheelchair while he was passed out on the ground from the effects of the pepper spray. Hall said in the complaint that he was later taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center for treatment of heart problems related to his high blood pressure.

In the lawsuit, Hall asked for punitive damages and compensatory damages under the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

On Sept. 17, after a threeday trial in federal court in Little Rock, U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth Deere dismissed Hall’s lawsuit with prejudice, barring him from refiling the lawsuit on the same grounds, ruling that there was no history of conflict between Hall and Taylor and that there was no other evidence that Taylor intended to harm Hall.

In a unanimous ruling, on Tuesday the three-judge appeals court panel concurred with Deere’s ruling, saying that it could not give a meaningful review on Hall’s challenge because he had not provided a transcript of the trial proceedings.