J. C. Snell, Inmate v. Herman Short, Police Chief, Houston Police Department

Appellant Snell, a Texas prisoner, brought this pro se civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that the defendants, who are or were officials of the Houston Police Department, wrongfully deprived him of a sum of money. The money was seized by the police as evidence in the robbery investigation that resulted eventually in Snell’s conviction. 1 After Snell’s trial, the police turned the money over to the robbery victim’s insurer. Snell claims that the failure of the police to return the money to him deprived him of property without due process of law. The district court granted…