The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will rehear en banc a ruling that an ex-prisoner whose attempted murder conviction was thrown out can still pursue a civil rights lawsuit even though he pleaded guilty to a lesser offense just to get out of prison. In April, a panel ruled 2-1 that released inmate Marcus Poventud is not prevented by Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), from suing prosecutors under §1983 over withheld exculpatory evidence. Heck provides a narrow exception to §1983′s broad coverage by barring suit unless a plaintiff can prove his conviction has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal or called into question by federal habeas corpus grant.
Poventud had served nine years of his 10-to-20-year sentence when a Bronx Supreme Court justice vacated his conviction in 2005. Prosecutors successfully argued he be denied bail while they appealedand then offered Poventud his immediate release if he pleaded guilty to third-degree robberyan offer he took and one that Southern District Judge Deborah Batts later said triggered the Heck litigation bar.
