Allen Varnell Lassiter, Plaintiff-appellant, v. B. Craig Ellis, Defendant-appellee, 831 F.2d 1057 (4th Cir. 1987)

Allen Varnell Lassiter, a North Carolina inmate, appeals the district court's dismissal of his action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In his complaint, Lassiter names as defendant the judge who presided at Lassiter's trial. Lassiter seeks monetary relief for damages allegedly resulting from the judge's imposition of sentence under the wrong penal statute. The district court dismissed Lassiter's action as frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). We affirm.

A judge is absolutely immune from a claim for damages arising out of his judicial actions. Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349 (1978); Pierson v. Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967); Chu v. Griffith, 771 F.2d 79 (4th Cir. 1985). Therefore, the district court properly dismissed Lassiter's claim for monetary relief against the judge as being frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). See Boyce v. Alizaduh, 595 F.2d 948 (4th Cir. 1979).

Because the dispositive issues have recently been decided authoritatively, we dispense with oral argument.

AFFIRMED.