Decisions in Criminal and Civil Rights Matters

In Parsley v. US, No. 09-1690, the First Circuit faced a challenge to the district court's denial of defendant's motion under 28 U.S.C. section to vacate his sentenced to eighty-seven months' imprisonment in his conviction for his role in a massive drug importation and distribution conspiracy in Maine.   In affirming the conviction, the court rejected defendant's ineffective assistance claims and held that the district court's conclusion that trial counsel did not render ineffective assistance are largely uncontested and not clearly erroneous.   

Coggeshall v. Massachusetts Bd. of Registration of Psychologists, 09-1111, concerned a plaintiffs' 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit against the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists, claiming multiple challenges to the constitutionality of the Board's actions and the regulations involving the plaintiff-psychologist's evaluation of a seven-year-old boy.  In rejecting plaintiff's claims and affirming the district court's dismissal of the action, the court held that the members of the Board, individually, are shielded from the damages claims by reason of quasi-judicial immunity.  Furthermore, the district court's dismissal on abstention ground is affirmed as this case is a paradigm for Younger abstention.  Lastly, the third party lacks standing to pursue his nonmonetary claims as he suffered no legally cognizable injury in fact as a result of the Board's actions.   

Related Resources:

• Full text of Parsley v. US
• Full text of Coggeshall v. Massachusetts Bd. of Registration of Psychologists