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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY
and DETECTIVE DEBORAH BURNS,
Defendants-Appellants,
v.
ANTWAN L. YOUNG,
Plaintiff-Appellee.
Case No. 01-6219
51 Fed. Appx. 543
November 5, 2002, Filed
NOTICE: NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION. SIXTH CIRCUIT RULE 28(g) LIMITS CITATION TO SPECIFIC SITUATIONS. PLEASE SEE RULE 28(g) BEFORE CITING IN A PROCEEDING IN A COURT IN THE SIXTH CIRCUIT. IF CITED, A COPY MUST BE SERVED ON OTHER PARTIES AND THE COURT. THIS NOTICE IS TO BE PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED IF THIS DECISION IS REPRODUCED.
JAMES G. CARR, District Judge. This is an interlocutory appeal from the
district court's denial of Defendant-Appellant Detective Deborah Burns'
qualified immunity defense. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the district
court's decision.
BACKGROUND
On January
11, 1999, a white male stole a revolver and cash from a Shell Station located
in Louisville, Kentucky. On January 14, 1999, a black male stole cash, several
checks, and a gun from the same location. Charles T. Mitchell, the station's
owner, recorded the second crime on videotape, which he made available to the
police.
On January
15, 1999, some of the stolen checks were presented for payment at a Winn-Dixie
grocery store in Louisville. On January 17, 1999, more of the stolen checks
were presented for payment at a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Jeffersonville,
Indiana. The stolen checks were made out to, and endorsed by, several
individuals, including an "Antwan Young." On February 25, 1999,
Defendant-Appellant Detective Deborah Burns recovered more of the [*545]
stolen checks from a Kroger grocery store. At each location where stolen
checks were recovered, witnesses were available to identify the individuals who
had presented the checks for payment.
On June 29,
1999, several individuals, including Plaintiff-Appellee Antwan Lawan Young were
indicted for the series of crimes. In the investigation leading to this
indictment, Detective Burns presumably performed a search of the Jefferson
County Department of Corrections Jail Information System for the name "Antwan
Young." The search revealed two individuals: 1) Antwan Cortez Young,
residing at 4101 Sunset St., born on July 4, 1981; and 2) Antwan Lawan Young
(appellee), residing at 1515 Oleanda # 4, born on March 16, 1977. Without
consulting the videotape of the theft or speaking with the eyewitnesses to the
check cashings, Detective Burns chose Antwan Lawan Young as the suspect and
testified so before the grand jury on June 29, 1999.
On July 6,
1999, a bench warrant was issued for Appellee Antwan Lawan Young after he
failed to appear for arraignment and bond was set at $35,000. Appellee alleges
that, on July 12, 1999, one day prior to his arrest, Detective Burns received a
phone call from a Detective Elder of the Jeffersonville, Indiana Police
Department. Detective Elder informed Detective Burns that Antwan Cortez Young
recently was arrested in Jeffersonville on charges of presenting stolen checks
from Charles T. Mitchell, the Shell Station's owner. Detective Burns took no
action other than to list Antwan Cortez Young as a "possible
suspect."
On July 13,
1999, appellee was stopped for a traffic offense and arrested based on the
outstanding bench warrant. He was held in jail for two weeks and then was
released on his own recognizance. His prosecution moved forward until September
14, 1999, when the charges were voluntarily dismissed.
Appellee filed suit against the Commonwealth, Detective Burns,
and two other officers, claiming, among other things, a 42 U.S.C. § 1983
violation and malicious prosecution. The court denied summary judgment on
Detective Burns' qualified immunity claim, finding that the question of
qualified immunity is completely dependent on a question fact, which is for a
jury to decide. It is from this denial that appellants appeal.
JURISDICTION
Generally, the denial of a motion for summary judgment is not a
final and appealable order. See 28 U.S.C. § 1291. "The Supreme Court has
held, however, that under the collateral order doctrine, 'a district court's
denial of a claim of qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an
issue of law, is an appealable 'final decision' within the meaning of 28 U.S.C.
§ 1291 notwithstanding the absence of a final judgment.'" Comstock v.
McCrary, 273 F.3d 693, 701 (6th Cir. 2001) (quoting Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472
U.S. 511, 530, 86 L. Ed. 2d 411, 105 S. Ct. 2806 (1985)). The Court clarified
this holding in Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 313, 132 L. Ed. 2d 238, 115 S.
Ct. 2151 (1995), stating that Mitchell was "explicitly limited ... to
appeals challenging, not a district court's determination about what factual
issues are 'genuine,' ... but the purely legal issue what law was 'clearly
established'."
Consistent with Johnson, this court has stated that "in
order for an interlocutory appeal to be appropriate, a defendant seeking
qualified immunity must be willing to concede to the facts as alleged by the
plaintiff and discuss only the legal issues raised by the case." Comstock
273 F.3d at 701. Here, appellants concede appellee's [*546] version of
events and the statement of the case as presented by the district court. (Final
Br. for Appellant, at 5 n.1).
Despite
this concession, the appellants challenge the district court's determination
that Detective Burns lacked probable cause to arrest and prosecute appellee.
Appellants argue that the district court had no basis to determine that
Detective Burns had selected the appellee "at random," and that there
was insufficient evidence in the record to establish that the detective's
mistake was malicious. (Id. at 11--12). Additionally, appellants challenge the
district court's reliance on a "phone record" to support appellees
allegation that Detective Burns knew, prior to appellee's arrest, that she had
identified the wrong person to the grand jury. (Id. at 16--17; Reply Br.
for Appellant, at 2). Appellants,
in effect, argue that the appellee failed to present sufficient evidence to
support his claims.
Such a challenge, however, goes to issues of fact, which this
court lacks jurisdiction to review on interlocutory appeal. Consequently, we
will not address appellants' argument to the extent it challenges the
sufficiency of appellee's evidence, and will focus, instead, on the district
court's denial of Detective Burns' qualified immunity defense, while viewing
the facts in this case in a light most favorable to the appellee.
DISCUSSION
We review a district court's denial of qualified immunity de
novo. Comstock, 273 F.3d at 701.
A state actor who is sued in his or her individual capacity is
entitled to qualified immunity unless his or her actions violate "clearly
established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person
would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 73 L. Ed. 2d
396, 102 S. Ct. 2727 (1982). In assessing whether qualified immunity applies,
courts engage in a two-part analysis: 1) determine whether the plaintiff has
alleged facts which, when taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff,
show that the official's conduct violated a constitutionally protected right;
and, if this question is answered in the affirmative, 2) determine whether that
right was clearly established such that a reasonable official, at the time the
act was committed, would have understood that his or her behavior violated that
right. Comstock, 273 F.3d at 702 (citing Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 150 L.
Ed. 2d 272, 121 S. Ct. 2151 (2001)).
"It is clearly established that arrest without probable
cause violates the Fourth Amendment." Donovan v. Thames, 105 F.3d 291, 297--
98 (6th Cir. 1997); see Baker v.
McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 142, 61 L. Ed. 2d 433, 99 S. Ct. 2689--43 (1979)
("By virtue of its 'incorporation' into the Fourteenth Amendment, the
Fourth Amendment requires the States to provide a fair and reliable
determination of probable cause as a condition for any significant pretrial
restraint of liberty."). Probable cause exists to arrest a person if
"facts and circumstances within the officer's knowledge that are sufficient
to warrant a prudent person, or one of reasonable caution, in believing, in the
circumstances shown, that the suspect has committed, is committing, or is about
to commit an offense." Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31, 37, 61 L. Ed.
2d 343, 99 S. Ct. 2627 (1979). Once probable cause is established, an officer
has no duty to investigate more or look for evidence that may exculpate. Ahlers v. Schebil, 188 F.3d 365, 371 (6th
Cir. 1999) (citation omitted). However, "officers, in the process of
determining whether probable cause exists, cannot simply turn a blind eye
toward potentially exculpatory evidence known to [*547] them in an effort to pin a crime on
someone." Id. at 372 (emphasis supplied).
In this
case, the district court found that "under Plaintiff's version of the
facts, Detective Burns did no more than 'flip a coin' before choosing between
Antwan Lawan Young [appellee] and Antwan Cortez Young as the suspect, then
received information one day prior to Plaintiff's arrest indicating that he had
been incorrectly fingered but never shared this information with anyone or
worked to set him free after his arrest." (J.A. at 206). Viewing the case
under this set of facts, which we must on this interlocutory appeal, we find
that Detective Burns lacked probable cause to arrest and detain appellee.
Furthermore, we are of the opinion that a reasonable detective would have known
that she would be
violating appellee's Fourth Amendment right by randomly choosing him from a
list of two individuals without any basis for distinguishing between the two.
Consequently, we hold that Detective Burns is not entitled to qualified
immunity because her actions violated a clearly established constitutional
right of which a reasonable person would have known.
Additionally,
we reject appellants' argument that this case is simply one of mistaken
identity on the part of Detective Burns that lead to a mistaken arrest and,
therefore, is constitutional under the Supreme Court's holding in Baker v.
McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 61 L. Ed. 2d 433, 99 S. Ct. 2689 (1979). Here, there
was no mistake of identity--Detective Burns simply chose Antwan Lawan Young
(appellee) instead of Antwan Cortez Young. Thus, this is not a case where Detective Burns chose A
thinking it was really B; rather, this is a case where she chose A instead of
B. Such a decision, while mistaken, was not one of mistaken identity. Moreover,
she had no probable cause, at the time she made her choice, to choose either
individual.
Finally, appellant also argues that the district court erred in
denying state common law qualified immunity from the state law counts. For the
same reasons that we reject Detective Burns' assertion of qualified immunity
from appellee's § 1983 claim, we reject her assertion of immunity from the state
malicious prosecution claim. See McCollum
v. Garrett, 880 S.W.2d 530, 535 n.6 (Ky. 1994) (adopting the federal standard
for qualified immunity in under Kentucky law).
CONCLUSION
For
the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the district court's denial of Detective
Burns' qualified immunity defense.