Larry J. Copus v. City of Edgerton

Larry J. Copus filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, contending that defendants wrongfully arrested him, searched his home, failed to administer Miranda warnings, and so on, all leading to the revocation of his probation and his current confinement. The district court swiftly ruled that a decision on the merits of these claims would affect the validity of Copus’s confinement, and that the claims therefore must be prosecuted under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Next the district court held that the complaint must be treated as a § 2254 action, which the court immediately dismissed for failure to exhaust…