Logan v. Bridgeman
Opinion of the Court
ORDER
Leroy Logan sued two Gary, Indiana, police officers under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, al
The record indicates that Logan was implicated in a rash of armed robberies that plagued Gary during the early fall of 1995. Detective Keith Eller, one of the defendants in this case, was assigned to investigate these robberies, including one committed at Miller Beach Pharmacy. On September 18, 1995, two male suspects robbed a McDonald’s restaurant, and shortly thereafter three of the restaurant’s employees identified Logan and the other suspect-Earl Ryan-from a photographic array. Based upon these identifications and other information, Eller suspected that Logan and Ryan were responsible for the series of robberies, and he dispatched Officer Jarrett Bridgeman to Ryan’s home, where Bridgeman arrested the two men without a warrant. The next day, Logan was charged with the Miller Beach Pharmacy robbery, and on October 15,1995, he was also charged with robbing the McDonald’s. Logan eventually was charged with two more robberies, bringing the total to four. Following a 1997 jury trial, he was convicted of the McDonald’s robbery. In a separate case, the three other robbery charges, including the one involving the robbery of the Miller Beach Pharmacy, were dismissed pursuant to the state’s request. Logan then filed his complaint in this case, alleging that Bridgeman and Eller had arrested him without probable cause, in retaliation for a previous complaint he had made against the police department that led to an officer’s dismissal.
Logan argues that the district court erred by granting judgment for the defendants at the close of his case because he had presented sufficient evidence that his arrest was without probable cause. But we cannot meaningfully review this argument because, without a trial transcript, we cannot verify Logan’s claim that probable cause had not been demonstrated. See LaFollette v. Savage, 63 F.3d 540, 544 (7th Cir. 1995). We are likewise unable to review Logan’s argument that the court erred by not admitting his proffered exhibits because we have neither written orders nor transcripts of the court’s rulings excluding his exhibits and quashing the subpoena of Judge Cantrell. Without a transcript, we can neither determine whether the court abused its discretion nor verify that Logan preserved his evidentiary arguments by properly objecting at trial. See Richardson v. Henry, 902 F.2d 414, 416 (5th Cir. 1990).
The appellant is responsible for making sure that the appellate record contains everything needed for meaningful review. Birchler v. Gehl Co., 88 F.3d 518, 519-20 (7th Cir. 1996). We may dismiss an appeal when the appellant fails to provide relevant portions of the record, even when the appellant, like Logan, is proceeding pro se. Woods v. Thieret, 5 F.3d 244, 245-46 (7th Cir. 1993). Logan did send a request for a copy of the trial transcript to the district court clerk, who informed him that he would have to pre-pay for the transcript. But he never paid to have the transcript prepared and the district court denied his motion to receive transcripts at no cost because his complaint did not present a “substantial question” under 28 U.S.C. § 753(f). Logan did not seek reconsideration or renew his motion to receive a copy of the transcript at no cost before this Court.
DISMISSED.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Leroy LOGAN v. Jarrett BRIDGEMAN and Keith Eller
- Status
- Published