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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Court Stakes Self-Styled Vampire Inmate’s Case

(CN) - The 5th Circuit rejected a frivolous appeal from a self-described "vampire high priest" who says he has suffered religious discrimination in a Texas prison.

Styling himself as a "Vampsh Black Sheep League of Doom Gardamun Family Circle Master Vampire High Priest," Courtney Royal said he wanted the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to recognize his religion of vampirism.

The nine-page complaint also complained that Royal had been denied access to legal forms, a law library and a proper spiritual advisor.

Royal filed an appeal and tried to proceed in forma pauperis after a federal judge in Waco dismissed the case at summary judgment.

Without explanation, Royal said he intended to raise appeal issues such as food, diet, black Bible, "rugs, rode and beads."

The New Orleans-based federal appeals court showed little patience for the maneuver in one-page order Thursday.

"He does not address the district court's certification that his appeal was not taken in good faith, nor does he address any of the district court's reasons for its certification decision," the unsigned decision states. "Accordingly, his challenge to the district court's certification decision is deemed abandoned."

Noting that the dismissal counts as a strike under federal rules for indigent litigants, the panel "cautioned" Royal that two more such strikes will mean that can not proceed in forma pauperis "in any civil action or appeal filed while he is incarcerated or detained in any facility unless he is under imminent danger of serious physical injury."

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