Singleton v. Cannizzaro
Singleton v. Cannizzaro
Opinion of the Court
*401Before the Court is Defendants' Joint Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 63). For the following reasons, the Motion is GRANTED IN PART .
BACKGROUND
At its core, this lawsuit alleges that the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office unlawfully compelled victims and witnesses of crimes to cooperate with prosecutors. Those who failed to comply with prosecutors' requests were allegedly threatened, harassed, and, in some cases, jailed. Plaintiffs in this case include eight people-victims of and witnesses to crimes-and an organization that advocates on behalf of crime victims.
The primary tool that prosecutors allegedly used to compel cooperation was a document manufactured by the District Attorney's Office ("DA's Office") to look like a court-ordered subpoena that was, in fact, nothing more than an invitation by prosecutors to meet with them outside of court. Prosecutors often threatened witnesses with jail time for failure to comply with these "subpoenas."
The Plaintiffs allege that the DA's Office operated this system for years, and it was not until The Lens published an exposé about the issue in the spring of 2017 that the practice became widely known.
The Plaintiffs in this suit include Renata Singleton, Marc Mitchell, Lazonia Baham, Jane Doe, Tiffany LaCroix, Fayona Bailey, John Roe, and Silence is Violence ("SIV"), a non-profit victim advocacy group based in Orleans Parish. The Defendants, all prosecutors at the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, include Cannizzaro, First Assistant District Attorney Graymond Martin, Assistant District Attorney and Chief of Trials David Pipes, and Assistant District Attorneys Iain Dover, Jason Napoli, Arthur Mitchell, Tiffany Tucker, Michael Trummel, Matthew Hamilton, Inga Petrovich, Laura Rodrigue, Sarah Dawkins, and John Doe.
Plaintiff Renata Singleton was the victim in a domestic violence incident in 2014 involving her ex-boyfriend, Vernon Crossley. Singleton alleges that the DA's Office sent her two "subpoenas" after she told a victim-witness advocate that she did not want to pursue charges against Crossley or participate in any prosecution of him. Acting on the advice of a friend in law enforcement who told Singleton she had not been properly served because the "subpoenas" were left at her door, Singleton did not comply with the requests in the "subpoenas." In response, Defendant ADA Mitchell sought a material witness warrant for Singleton. A judge granted Mitchell's request, and Singleton spent five days in jail on a $ 100,000 bond before ultimately being released.
Plaintiff Marc Mitchell was shot in 2014 while playing basketball with his nephews. He testified against Jonterry Bernard, the shooter. Bernard was convicted on a charge of attempted murder and sentenced to prison. The DA's Office also charged another man, Gerard Gray, with attempted murder in the shooting on the theory that Gray ordered Bernard to shoot Mitchell. In multiple meetings with prosecutors, Mitchell told the prosecutors that he did not know whether Gray ordered Bernard to shoot him. According to Mitchell, prosecutors continued to question him about his recollection of the events leading up to the shooting. Mitchell ultimately quit cooperating with the prosecutors, and ADA Trummel and ADA Hamilton worked together to have a material witness warrant issued for Mitchell's arrest. Police arrested Mitchell in the lobby of the hotel where he worked, and he spent a day in jail on a $ 50,000 bond before being released.
Plaintiff Lazonia Baham was wanted for questioning by the DA's office in the 2013 killing of her daughter's boyfriend. Baham alleges that prosecutors wanted her to testify that she saw Isaac Jones, the defendant in the murder case, near the scene of the murder. She repeatedly told prosecutors that she only saw Jones near her house, not near the murder scene. Baham ultimately stopped taking calls from the DA's office, and ADA Napoli sought a material witness warrant for her arrest. Police arrested Baham a few days after Christmas Day in 2015 while she was sick. She spent a total of eight days jailed on the warrant before being released.
Plaintiff Jane Doe was the victim of molestation of a juvenile and child pornography. Doe alleges that the DA's Office in 2016 delivered a "subpoena" to her home demanding that she appear at their office to meet with prosecutors. Doe ultimately complied with their request after ADA
*403Dover allegedly threatened Doe at her high school and later arrived in court with a material witness warrant application threatening to jail Doe.
Plaintiffs Fayona Bailey and Tiffany LaCroix were potential witnesses in different murder cases who allegedly received "subpoenas" from the DA's Office. Both ultimately hired a lawyer to challenge the "subpoenas," and their challenges were successful. Plaintiffs allege that ADA Petrovich sent the "subpoena" to Bailey around March 2017, and that ADA Rodrigue sent the "subpoena" to LaCroix in November 2016.
Plaintiff John Roe was attacked with a rifle in January 2016, and Roe's friend was murdered the next day. Police identified Michael Young as the suspect in both the attack on Roe and the murder of Roe's friend. Investigators questioned Roe about the incidents, and he cooperated with them. Although Roe provided police with his contact information at the time, he later moved and changed his phone number. Numerous subpoenas were sent to Roe's former address, but he alleges that he did not receive them. Nevertheless, Roe alleges that he was "not difficult to find" at the time because he maintains a Facebook account under his name.
Plaintiff SIV alleges that it has been threatened by Cannizzaro on multiple occasions and that it has been forced to alter the focus of its organizational mission-from generally advocating for victims of violent crime to protecting those same victims from zealous prosecutors-because of the DA's Office's use of "subpoenas" and other intimidating tactics.
On March 1, 2018, the Defendants filed a Joint Motion to Dismiss the claims of all Plaintiffs under Rule 12(b)(6).
LEGAL STANDARD
To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a plaintiff must plead enough facts to "state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face."
LAW AND ANALYSIS
This Court will first address the extent to which the Individual Defendants enjoy absolute immunity from federal law claims by Plaintiffs other than SIV before turning to whether any of the remaining federal claims by those same Plaintiffs are barred by qualified immunity.
I. Absolute Immunity
Defendants argue that virtually all of Plaintiffs' claims for monetary damages are barred by absolute immunity.
Plaintiffs identify five categories of conduct performed by the Individual Defendants that form the basis of their claims.
*405a. An Overview of Absolute Immunity
In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court in Imbler v. Pachtman extended the common law doctrine of absolute immunity to prosecutors.
Two points bear mentioning here. First, absolute immunity only protects individuals from claims for damages.
b. Functional Absolute Immunity Analysis for Each Category of Alleged Prosecutorial Misconduct
i. Creation and Use of "Subpoenas"
Plaintiffs Singleton, Doe, LaCroix, and Bailey allege that some of the Individual Defendants created and delivered to them documents manufactured to look like subpoenas that had not been approved by a judge.
In Loupe v. O'Bannon , the Fifth Circuit held that a prosecutor did not enjoy absolute immunity for ordering the warrantless arrest of a witness just moments after a judge had refused to jail the same witness.
Like the prosecutors in Loupe and Lacey , Individual Defendants Cannizzaro, Martin, Pipes, Mitchell, Napoli, Petrovich, Rodrigue, and Dover side-stepped the judicial process to the extent that they created and disseminated "subpoenas" to compel witnesses to meet with them outside of court. Article 66 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure allows prosecutors to seek a subpoena from a court ordering a witness to meet with the prosecutor for questioning.
Allegations that the Individual Defendants purported to subpoena witnesses without court approval, therefore, describe more than a mere procedural error or expansion of authority. Rather, they describe the usurpation of the power of another branch of government. The "subpoena template" allegedly disseminated by First ADA Martin includes language that the recipient is "Hereby Notified pursuant to LSA-CCRP art. 66 to appear before the District Attorney for the Parish of Orleans."
Furthermore, that the alleged activity by the Individual Defendants took place as a means to a prosecutorial end is not dispositive of the issue. Under that logic, virtually all activity engaged in by a prosecutor would be absolutely immune from civil liability. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected expanding prosecutorial *408absolute immunity so broadly, noting in Burns v. Reed that "[a]lmost any action by a prosecutor, including his or her direct participation in purely investigative activity, could be said to be in some way related to the ultimate decision whether to prosecute, but we have never indicated that absolute immunity is that expansive."
In Imbler , the Supreme Court justified expanding the common law doctrine of absolute immunity to prosecutors by stating,
It is fair to say, we think, that the honest prosecutor would face greater difficulty in meeting the standards of qualified immunity than other executive or administrative officials. Frequently acting under serious constraints of time and even information, a prosecutor inevitably makes many decisions that could engender colorable claims of constitutional deprivation.54
The allegation that Defendant Martin disseminated a template of a "subpoena" throughout the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office undermines any suggestion that Plaintiffs' allegations were the result of "serious constraints of time."
The Supreme Court in Imbler further reasoned that "[t]he affording of only a qualified immunity to the prosecutor also could have an adverse effect upon the functioning of the criminal justice system."
ii. Threatening Witnesses
The second type of conduct underlying Plaintiffs' claims involves "the use of verbal and written threats to gain access to *409witnesses outside of court and to influence witnesses' testimony."
1. Verbal Threats of Imprisonment by ADAs to Plaintiffs
Plaintiffs argue that threats of imprisonment allegedly made by several of the Individual Defendants to several of the Plaintiffs should not be protected by absolute immunity.
Unlike the ultra vires creation and issuance of "subpoenas," generalized threats of imprisonment made by prosecutors do not necessarily fall so far outside the criminal phase of the judicial process to warrant denial of absolute immunity for such threats. Although the distinction is an admittedly fine one, threatening to imprison a witness to compel cooperation in a criminal prosecution while possessing the lawful means to follow through on that threat is not the same as manufacturing documents in violation of the lawful process for obtaining court-approved subpoenas for witnesses. Threatening witnesses-particularly verbally-with imprisonment to further witness cooperation in an active criminal prosecution seems to this Court to fall into the category of "pursuing a criminal prosecution" as an "advocate for the state."
This is the result of applying a doctrine that at times "leave[es] unaddressed the wrongs done by dishonest officers" as an alternative to "subject[ing] those who try to do their duty to the constant dread of retaliation."
2. Verbal Threats by Cannizzaro to SIV
Separately, Plaintiff SIV asserts claims for damages against Defendant Cannizzaro in his individual capacity based on allegations that he threatened to prosecute SIV's executive director for obstruction of justice or witness coercion if she continued to encourage witnesses and victims to not cooperate with prosecutors. "The decision to initiate ... criminal charges is at the core of the prosecutorial function."
iii. Use of Material Witness Warrants
The third type of alleged prosecutorial misconduct involves allegations that *410prosecutors lied in material witness warrant applications.
iv. Failure to Supervise
Plaintiffs seek to hold Defendants Cannizzaro, Martin, and Pipes individually liable for supervising assistant district attorneys in a way that allowed constitutional violations to flourish, and Plaintiffs seek to hold all Individual Defendants liable for their failure to intervene in the matter. Supervising prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity for claims arising from allegations that they failed to properly train or prevent unlawful conduct when the underlying conduct would be protected by absolute immunity.
For the reasons explained above, the Individual Defendants enjoy absolute immunity for claims seeking damages based on alleged: (1) verbal threats of imprisonment made to Plaintiffs and verbal threats of criminal prosecution made to SIV's director; (2) misstatements or omissions in applications for material witness warrants and general abuses of the material witness warrant process; and (3) failures to supervise or intervene in the aforementioned conduct. The Individual Defendants are not absolutely immune for claims seeking damages based on allegations of: (1) creating or issuing "subpoenas" to Plaintiffs and (2) failures to supervise or intervene in the aforementioned conduct.
II. Qualified Immunity
Defendants argue that to the extent their conduct is not covered by absolute immunity, it is covered by qualified immunity. Therefore, the Court will now analyze whether the Individual Defendants enjoy qualified immunity from claims for which they do not enjoy absolute immunity.
"Qualified immunity shields government officials from civil damages liability unless the official violated a statutory or constitutional right that was clearly established at the time of the challenged *411conduct."
a. Fourth Amendment Unlawful Subpoena Claims
Plaintiffs LaCroix, Bailey, and Doe allege that Defendants Dover, Petrovich, Rodrigue, and Martin violated the Fourth Amendment by compelling the Plaintiffs to meet with them outside of court through the use of "subpoenas."
"There is a clearly established right to be free from unreasonable seizures under the Fourth Amendment."
i. Plaintiffs Bailey and LaCroix
Bailey alleges that ADA Petrovich seized her in violation of the Fourth Amendment by issuing a "subpoena" that demanded she meet with prosecutors, which forced Bailey to hire a private attorney to challenge the "subpoena."
Plaintiffs cite to no authority suggesting that the mere delivery of a document purporting to require a meeting with prosecutors constitutes a Fourth Amendment seizure.
Further, refusing to appear does not qualify as a seizure. Although a seizure may occur absent physical force, no matter the circumstances, "submission to [an] assertion of authority is necessary."
ii. Plaintiff Doe
Unlike Bailey and LaCroix, Plaintiff Doe eventually met with prosecutors *413after allegedly receiving two "subpoenas." The meeting, however, occurred pursuant to a court order, not in response to the receipt of a "subpoena."
b. First Amendment Claims
i. Compelled Speech Claims
Plaintiffs Baham, Mitchell, Singleton, Doe, and Roe allege that they were compelled to speak with prosecutors against their will by the Defendants in violation of the First Amendment.
"[T]he right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment against state action includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all."
At issue here is whether prosecutors' use of "subpoenas" to compel witnesses into meeting privately with prosecutors outside of court violates the First Amendment's compelled speech doctrine. Neither the Supreme Court nor the Fifth Circuit has provided a clear standard for analyzing compelled speech claims in this context. The Fifth Circuit has suggested that the government can defeat a compelled speech claim by showing that "essential operations of government require [the speech] for the preservation of an orderly society-as in the case of compulsion to give evidence in court."
This Court need not decide today whether any of the Defendants violated any of the Plaintiffs' First Amendment rights by compelling witnesses into meeting privately outside of court to discuss active criminal cases through the use of "subpoenas." Plaintiffs fail to show that witnesses possess a clearly established right under the First Amendment to refuse to speak to prosecutors about active criminal cases. For that reason, the Individual Defendants enjoy qualified immunity from Plaintiffs' First Amendment compelled speech claims for damages.
ii. Retaliation Claims
Plaintiffs allege that Defendants retaliated against them for exercising their First Amendment right to refuse to speak.
"The First Amendment prohibits not only direct limits on individual speech but also adverse governmental action against an individual in retaliation for the exercise of protected speech activities."
Plaintiffs engaged in constitutionally protected activity when they refused to speak to prosecutors absent a valid court order to do otherwise.
c. Fourteenth Amendment Substantive Due Process Claim
In Count Five of the Amended Complaint, Plaintiffs allege:
Each of Defendant Cannizzaro's official policies, practices and customs described above, separately and in combination, shocks the conscience and violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of all Plaintiffs and poses an ongoing risk of violating the Fourteenth Amendment rights of Plaintiff Baham, Plaintiff Doe, Plaintiff Roe, and the rights of Plaintiff Silence Is Violence and its clients.108
An executive official violates a person's substantive due process rights when the official's conduct is "so egregious, so outrageous, that it may fairly be said to shock the contemporary conscience."
Plaintiffs' allegations that prosecutors manufactured "subpoenas," deliberately side-stepping judicial oversight of the subpoena process, appears to this Court to represent a breed of official misconduct. Claims that the practice was not only condoned but directed by top prosecutors and the DA himself only make the allegations more disturbing. This Court believes that Plaintiffs' claims sufficiently shock the conscience such that they allege a constitutional violation.
Nevertheless, the Individual Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on these claims. Plaintiffs fail to cite to any case law suggesting that the Defendants' violated a clearly established right of Plaintiffs. In their opposition to Defendants'
*416Motion for Summary Judgment, Plaintiffs cite only to Rochin v. California , in which the Supreme Court held that illegally breaking into a person's apartment, attempting to pry open his mouth, and forcibly extracting the contents of his stomach amounted to conduct that "shocks the conscience."
III. Failure to State a Claim
The Defendants additionally argue that Plaintiffs' remaining claims should be dismissed for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted.
a. Fourth Amendment Material Witness Warrant Claims
Although the Individual Defendants enjoy absolute immunity from civil damages for Plaintiffs' claims that the Defendants violated the Fourth Amendment by abusing the material witness warrant process, claims for injunctive relief against the Individual Defendants and claims for injunctive relief and damages against Cannizzaro in his official capacity remain.
Plaintiffs Singleton, Baham, Mitchell, Roe, and SIV allege that Defendants Cannizzaro, Mitchell, Pipes, Napoli, Trummel, Hamilton, and Dawkins violated the Fourth Amendment by "relying on false allegations, material omissions, and plainly insufficient factual allegations in applications for material witness warrants."
In Franks v. Delaware , the U.S. Supreme Court held that an official violates the Fourth Amendment when the official makes materially false statements-either deliberately or with reckless disregard for the truth-in support of a warrant that are necessary to a court's finding of probable cause.
Under Franks , a court must consider whether an official's statements or omissions were "necessary to [a] finding of probable cause."
Louisiana's Material Witness Statute requires prosecutors to show that a witness's testimony "is essential to the prosecution" and that "it may become impracticable to secure the presence of the person by subpoena."
Under Franks , to assess whether allegedly false statements and omissions were necessary to a finding of probable cause, a court must "consider the faulty affidavit as if those errors and omissions were removed."
i. Singleton's Franks claims
The statement supporting probable cause in the application for Singleton's material witness warrant read as follows:
The testimony of Singleton is essential to the prosecution of the above entitled *418case. She is the victim of the simple battery and criminal damage to the property amounting less than $ 500.
The State has reason to fear Singleton will not appear in Court pursuant to a subpoena as she has failed to appear pursuant to an appointment with the undersigned, and she has failed to appear in court at every other trial setting that she was issued a subpoena for.
Singleton received improper domiciliary service, as a subpoena was left in the door of the residence of Singleton on March 6, 2015. Singleton did not appear for trial when it was set on March 20, 2015.
The undersigned has made attempts to contact Singleton since March 2015. The undersigned attempted to contact Singleton numerous times at the phone number provided by Singleton, to no avail.
The Sheriff's Office has made numerous attempts to serve Singleton at her primary address with no success. They have been to her residence three times and have left subpoenas in her door due to no one accepting service at the residence on her behalf.
On April 20, 2015, the undersigned contacted Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office Victim-Witness Advocate Amy Jackson, to determine if Jackson possessed alternative phone numbers for Singleton. The undersigned was informed that Singleton had never been cooperative with Victim-Witness Advocate Jackson, but did provide the undersigned with an alternative phone number for Singleton. The undersigned attempted to contact Singleton at the alternative phone number, to no avail.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Investigator Corey Porter has made numerous attempts to locate Singleton since April 20, 2015. On that day, the undersigned, accompanied by Investigator Porter, traveled to the last known address for Singleton in an attempt to serve Singleton with a subpoena and conduct an interview, to no avail.
On April 21, 2015, Investigator Porter traveled to the Astor Crowne Plaza, the last known employer of Singleton. Investigator Porter learned that Singleton had ceased her employment with the Astor Crowne Plaza approximately one month prior.
On April 21, 2015 Investigator Porter traveled to the last known residence of Singleton with a subpoena and conduct an interview. Investigator Porter observed a Toyota Camry, associated with Singleton, parked in the driveway of the residence. Investigator Porter knocked on the front door of the residence and waited for a response from someone present inside of the residence, to no avail. Investigator Porter left two subpoenas at the residence for Singleton to appear at the District Attorney's Office on April 24, 2015.
On April 23, 2015, the undersigned attempted to contact Singleton at the last known phone numbers of Singleton, to no avail.126
Singleton objects to the truthfulness of the application on the following grounds: (1) that it created a misleading impression that Singleton was validly served with subpoenas for the April 24th trial date; (2) that the "subpoenas" left by Porter at Singleton's home were not validly created subpoenas; (3) that Singleton was not home when sheriff's deputies attempted to serve her with subpoenas at her home; and *419(4) that saying Singleton had "never been cooperative" with a victim-witness advocate misleadingly suggests Singleton would not respond to a validly issued subpoena.
The problem with Singleton's objections is that for the most part they challenge truthful statements as misleading. The application does not state that Singleton was ever validly served with a subpoena; it states that she "received improper domiciliary service" and that subpoenas were left at her door, which does not imply that proper service occurred.
Excluding the allegedly false statements in the warrant that some of the "subpoenas" left at Singleton's home were not actually subpoenas, and adding the omitted allegation that Singleton was not home when service was attempted on her, does not change the fact that the application as amended would contain probable cause to arrest Singleton on a material witness warrant. Such an application would still show that Singleton was a key witness to the prosecution's case, that service was attempted on her numerous times but never accomplished, and that Singleton had not been cooperative with the investigation by the DA's Office in the underlying criminal offense against her. Such statements are sufficient to show that her testimony was essential to the prosecution's case and that it may have been impracticable to secure her testimony by subpoena. As such, Singleton's Franks claim must fail.
ii. Mitchell's Franks claims
The statement supporting probable cause in the application for Mitchell's material witness warrant read as follows:
The testimony of Mark Mitchell is essential to the prosecution of the above entitled case.
On 4/4/16 Assistant District Attorney's Mike Trummel, Matthew Hamilton, as well as District Attorney's Office investigator Pamela Butler, and victim witness counselor Julie Ferguson met with Mark Mitchell outside his place of work. This meeting took place after numerous text messages and phone calls in which Mark Mitchell indicated this would be the last meeting he would have with the District Attorney's Office and did not want to move forward with the case. At the meeting Mark Mitchell stated the only way in which he would testify was if he was arrested.
Mark Mitchell has given statements to the New Orleans Police Department implicating the defendant, Gerard Gray, in the above numbered case. Mark Mitchell has also testified at a trial against Gerard Gray's codefendant, Jonterry Bernard.129
Mitchell objects to the truthfulness of the application on the following grounds: (1) it falsely says Mitchell stated "the only way in which he would testify was if he was arrested;" (2) it omits that he signed a subpoena during the April 4th meeting with prosecutors agreeing to testify in court on April 11, 2016; (3) it omits that Mitchell had cooperated with prosecutors in the past and had met with them several times to prepare the case for trial; (3) it omits that Mitchell had previously testified against the co-defendant in the case; and (4) it omits that prosecutors had pressured *420Mitchell to "alter his account of events" to support the state's case.
Deleting the allegedly false statements-that Mitchell would only testify if arrested-and adding the material omissions-that Mitchell had cooperated with prosecutors in the past and had signed a subpoena in the presence of prosecutors agreeing to appear in court just two days before the material witness warrant was issued-to Mitchell's application, this Court finds that Mitchell has stated a viable Franks claim. At least one federal district court has held that omitting the fact that a material witness had previously cooperated with investigators constitutes a particularly concerning material omission for Franks purposes.
iii. Baham's Franks claims
The statement supporting probable cause in the application for Baham's material witness warrant read as follows:
The testimony of Lazonia Baham is essential to the prosecution of the above entitled case.
Lazonia Baham was notified by Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office Investigator Mike Kitchens that she was an essential witness in the above stated case and would be needed to testify. Ms. Baham refused to meet with ADA Jason Napoli and cut off all communication with the District Attorney's Office. Despite multiple visits to her home, Ms. Baham refuses to speak with Investigator Kitchens and has refused to return multiple phone calls. The actions of Ms. Baham indicate that she is intentionally avoiding service and will not come to court on her own accord.
Lazonia Baham has given statements to the New Orleans Police Department implicating the defendant, Issac Jones, in the above numbered case.133
Baham objects to the truthfulness of the application based on the following allegedly intentional and material omissions: (1) that Baham had previously spoken several times with investigators from the DA's Office; (2) that the DA's Office had pressured her to change her recollection of events to support the state's case; (3) that Defendant Napoli had sent Baham "subpoenas;"
*421and (4) that Baham had stated she would come to court if subpoenaed.
Deleting the allegedly false statement-that Baham would not come to court on her own accord-and adding the material omissions-that she had previously spoken with investigators several times and that she told prosecutors she would come to court if subpoenaed-this Court finds that Baham has stated a viable Franks claim. Baham alleges that she told prosecutors she would respond to a subpoena. Baham's refusal to speak with a DA's Office investigator, without more, does not indicate that it may have been impracticable to secure her testimony by subpoena when the application fails to state whether service had ever been attempted on her and that she had said she would respond to a subpoena. As such, Baham's Franks claim survives.
iv. Roe's Franks claims
The statement supporting probable cause in the application for Roe's material witness warrant read as follows:
The testimony of Roe is essential to the prosecution of the above entitled case. Roe is a named victim in the bill of indictment.
The State has reason to fear Roe will not appear in Court. Attempts to reach Roe at his home and by phone by members of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office have been unsuccessful. Messages left for Roe have gone unanswered.
Roe has given statements to the New Orleans Police Department implicating the defendant in the above numbered case.135
Roe objects to the truthfulness of the application on the following grounds: it omits that (1) he cooperated with police near the time of the incident the DA's Office was investigating; (2) despite having notice that Roe had moved, prosecutors only sent subpoenas to Roe's old address; (3) neither prosecutors nor police had attempted to contact Roe for nearly two years after he first cooperated in the underlying investigation; and (4) prosecutors "did not make basic reasonable attempts to locate Roe" such as attempting to reach him through Facebook.
Construing the allegations in the light most favorable to Roe, this Court will consider the statement regarding attempts to reach him at his home as false. Deleting that statement from the application and adding the facts that Roe had been cooperative from the beginning and had simply moved and changed phone numbers, this Court finds that such an application would not have shown that it may have been impracticable to secure Roe's presence in court via subpoena. Instead, this application merely shows that prosecutors had trouble tracking down Roe. Failing to respond to subpoenas sent to an old address and to messages left at a since-changed phone number does not indicate that Roe would not have responded to a subpoena. As such, Roe's Franks claim survives.
b. First Amendment Compelled Speech Claims
Even though the Individual Defendants enjoy qualified immunity from Plaintiffs'
*422First Amendment compelled speech claims seeking monetary damages, monetary claims against Cannizzaro in his official capacity and claims for injunctive relief against the Defendants remain.
Prosecutors in Louisiana may compel witnesses to meet with them out of court by securing a subpoena from a judge.
Plaintiffs Baham, Mitchell, Singleton, Doe, and Roe allege that they were unlawfully compelled to speak with prosecutors who used fraudulent shows of authority to secure the presence of the Plaintiffs at private meetings. Additionally, Plaintiffs Mitchell and Baham allege that the State encouraged them to change their stories, behavior that could be characterized rather innocently as a memory recollection effort or more villainously as an attempt to foster fabricated testimony.
The same cannot be said for Plaintiffs Bailey and LaCroix. Neither woman ever met with prosecutors in response to the receipt of a "subpoena." Thus, even if prosecutors attempted to compel them to speak, neither Bailey nor LaCroix ever spoke in response to such conduct. Plaintiffs' argue that their hiring of an attorney to challenge the "subpoenas" represents sufficient compelled speech to support their claims. This Court disagrees. Plaintiffs Bailey and LaCroix have failed to state a First Amendment compelled speech claim that is plausible on its face.
c. Fourteenth Amendment Prolonged Detention Claims
Plaintiff Baham alleges that Defendant Napoli violated her Fourteenth Amendment Due Process rights by causing her to be jailed on a material witness warrant then refusing to ensure she received a prompt court appearance. She also alleges an official capacity claim against Defendant Cannizzaro on the ground that Napoli was following the DA's allegedly unlawful policy of causing material witnesses to be deprived of prompt initial appearances when she sat in jail for more than a week awaiting an initial appearance following her arrest in 2015. Plaintiffs Doe and Roe seek injunctive relief against Cannizzaro regarding the same allegedly unlawful policy, and SIV asserts a prolonged detention claim on the same grounds.
The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits states from depriving "any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
In Orleans Parish, however, it is not the responsibility of prosecutors to ensure that material witnesses receive prompt initial appearances before a judge. Rule 15.0(12) of the Rules for the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court provides that "[i]f a material witness warrant of arrest is issued ... the court shall require the moving party to file the material witness motion and the capias/warrant with the Clerk of Court." Rule 15.0(9) further provides that "[w]henever a capias has been executed, the clerk shall place the individual on the docket and jail list of the appropriate Section...."
Pursuant to Rule 15.0(12), Defendant Napoli filed a material witness motion before Judge Laurie White that was granted on October 13, 2015.
Baham alleges that she was not brought to court for an initial appearance until January 6, 2016.
IV. Plaintiffs' State Law Claims
a. Abuse of Process
Plaintiffs allege that Defendants committed the tort of abuse of process under Louisiana law. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege abuse of the material witness and investigative subpoena legal processes. Defendants argue that they are absolutely immune from civil damages for such claims and that the remaining claims should be dismissed for failure to state a claim.
i. Abuse of Process: Louisiana's Material Witness Statute
Because Louisiana extends absolute immunity to prosecutors to the same extent as federal law does, for the reasons explained previously in this Order and Reasons, Defendants are absolutely immune from civil damages arising from allegations that they abused the process of the material witness statute. Claims against Defendant Cannizzaro in his official capacity and those against the Individual Defendants for injunctive relief remain.
To succeed on a Louisiana abuse of process claim, a plaintiff must show an improper willful act in the use of a legal process and the existence of an ulterior purpose.
ii. Abuse of Process: Louisiana's Investigative Subpoenas
As previously explained in this Order and Reasons, the Individual Defendants do not enjoy absolute immunity for the creation and use of "subpoenas" to obtain out-of-court meetings with witnesses. Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants flouted the investigative subpoena process provided by Article 66 of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure by serving "subpoenas" on several of the Plaintiffs with the ulterior purpose of avoiding judicial oversight.
b. Fraud
Plaintiffs Singleton, Baham, Doe, Bailey, and LaCroix also make state law fraud claims against Cannizzaro in his official capacity and against Defendants Mitchell, Napoli, Petrovich, Rodrigue, Dover, Doe, and Martin in their individual capacities. A fraud claim under Louisiana law requires a plaintiff to show that she was injured because she reasonably relied on a defendant's intentionally deceiving misrepresentation of material fact.
As to the fraud claim by Plaintiff Singleton, this Court agrees with Defendants. Singleton alleges that she did not respond to the "subpoenas" left at her home.
The same reasoning warrants the dismissal of Plaintiff Baham's fraud claim. She also chose not to respond to the "subpoenas" sent to her.
The allegations by Plaintiffs Doe, Bailey, and LaCroix differ in a materially different respect. Each of these Plaintiffs allege that they hired private attorneys in direct response to being served with "subpoenas." That is, they suffered an injury-the cost of a private attorney-because they reasonably relied on the threats of fines and imprisonments that appeared as intentionally deceptive material misrepresentations within the "subpoenas." Defendants have cited to no case law suggesting that such an injury is insufficient to establish a fraud claim under Louisiana law. At this early stage in the proceedings, Plaintiffs Doe, Bailey, and LaCroix have pleaded sufficient facts to support their fraud claims to survive Defendants' 12(b)(6) challenge.
V. SIV's Claims
SIV alleges federal and state law claims based both on violations of its own rights and separately for violations of the rights of its clients.
a. SIV's First Amendment Retaliation Claim
Because Defendant Cannizzaro enjoys absolute immunity for his threats of prosecution to SIV, its claims against him seeking civil damages must be dismissed. SIV's claims against Cannizzaro in his official capacity and for injunctive relief based on the DA's Office's allegedly unlawful policy of retaliation, however, are sufficient to overcome Defendants' 12(b)(6) challenge for the same reason such claims by the other Plaintiffs survive.
b. SIV's Other Federal Claims
Defendants move to dismiss SIV's remaining federal claims on two separate grounds. First, Defendants argue that SIV's claims on behalf of its clients must fail because Plaintiff Mitchell is SIV's only client identified by name in the Amended Complaint, and "his claims fail for all the reasons explained [in the Motion to Dismiss]."
Second, Defendants argue that SIV's own claims must be dismissed because SIV has not "adequately alleged facts showing that its own rights were violated."
Here, SIV alleges that it was forced to devote resources to educating and representing witnesses and victims of crime because of the allegedly unlawful policies of the DA's Office. It need not-and indeed does not appear to-allege violations of its own constitutional rights to bring claims against Defendants.
This Court recognizes that Defendants do not challenge SIV's Article III standing in their Motion to Dismiss, and that in their Reply brief they expressly reserved such a challenge.
c. SIV's State Law Claims
As an initial matter, Defendants' do not appear to challenge SIV's fraud claims under Louisiana law in their Motion to Dismiss except to argue that such claims are barred by absolute immunity.
Regarding SIV's abuse of process claims, Defendants argue that such claims should fail because "SIV cannot satisfy the basic tort-law requirement of causation."
SIV alleges that Defendants' use of "subpoenas" and misuse of the material *427witness warrant statute caused SIV to re-direct resources away from its core mission to "ensur[e] that victims of crime are not victimized again by the District Attorney's Office."
VI. Prescription
The Defendants also argue that most of the claims by Plaintiffs Singleton, Mitchell, Baham, and Doe are prescribed. Plaintiffs respond that they had no reason to know the critical facts underlying their claims more than a year before they filed suit, and that in any event Louisiana tolling principles prevented their claims from prescribing.
a. § 1983 Claims
Although Section 1983 provides a federal cause of action, federal courts look to state law to determine the statute of limitations for such claims.
It is federal law, however, that determines when a § 1983 actions accrues.
i. Singleton, Baham, and Doe's Claims
Defendants argue that Plaintiffs Singleton, Baham, and Doe's § 1983 claims are prescribed because the alleged misconduct underlying those allegations occurred more than one year before Plaintiffs filed suit. Plaintiffs respond that they had no reason to know of the critical facts underlying their claims-that the "subpoenas" delivered to them were not lawfully created-until The Lens published a story in April 2017 publicly revealing, for the first time, the use of "subpoenas" by prosecutors in Cannizzaro's office. At this early stage in the proceedings, this Court agrees. Absent the "subpoenas," Plaintiffs' claims would disappear. To say the Plaintiffs had reason to know documents designed to appear authentic were in fact fraudulent before such information became more widely known would stretch the "reason to know" standard too broadly. Taken as true, Plaintiffs Singleton, Baham, and Doe's allegations show they had no reason to know of the critical facts underlying their claims until at least April 2017, which was less than a year before they filed suit.
ii. Mitchell's Claims
Defendants also argue that Plaintiff Mitchell's § 1983 claims are prescribed because he filed suit more than a year after the alleged conduct underlying his claims occurred. Mitchell responds that he had no reason to know about the alleged misstatements in the application for the material witness warrant on which he was arrested-the conduct underlying his claims-because the application was not legally attainable until September 2017, which was less than a year before he filed suit. Even so, Defendants argue, Mitchell had reason to know about his claims because of a meeting he had with Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Laurie White. Mitchell alleges that Judge White told him during the meeting "she wanted to apologize for what had happened to him, and ... prosecutors had misled her."
As an initial matter, it is not exactly clear when the meeting with Judge White took place. But even assuming it took place more than a year before the initial Complaint was filed in this case in October 2017, this Court does not have before it sufficient evidence to determine whether anything that transpired during that meeting resulted in Mitchell having reason to know about his claims. Mitchell alleges that he "did not know" critical facts necessary to his claim until less than a year before he filed suit.
b. State Law Claims
Defendants also argue that state law abuse of process and fraud claims by Plaintiffs Singleton, Mitchell, Baham, and Doe are prescribed. These claims are subject to a one-year prescriptive period.
*429The conduct underlying Plaintiffs' claims occurred more than one year before Plaintiffs filed suit.
"When a petition reveals on its face that prescription has run, the plaintiff has the burden of showing why the claim has not prescribed."
"[T]he doctrine of contra non valentem ... is an exception to the general rules of prescription."
"[T]he discovery rule ... provides that prescription commences on the date the injured party discovers or should have discovered the facts upon which his cause of action is based."
The Louisiana Supreme Court has noted that the doctrine of contra non valentem should only be applied in "exceptional circumstances."
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' Motion is GRANTED IN PART . The following claims remain:
• Count I: Plaintiffs Mitchell, Baham, and Roe's § 1983 claims under Franks for injunctive relief and damages against Cannizzaro in his official capacity and those seeking injunctive relief against Defendants Napoli, Trummel, Hamilton, and Dawkins in their individual capacities
• Count II: Plaintiffs Doe and SIV's § 1983 claims seeking injunctive relief against Cannizzaro in his official capacity for the creation and use of "subpoenas"
• Count III: Plaintiffs' § 1983 compelled speech and retaliation claims seeking damages and injunctive relief against Cannizzaro in his official capacity, and Plaintiffs' § 1983 retaliation claims seeking injunctive relief against Defendants Napoli, Dover, and Dawkins in their individual capacities
• Count V: Plaintiffs' § 1983 substantive due process claims seeking damages and injunctive relief against Cannizzaro in his official capacity
• Counts VI and VII: Plaintiffs' § 1983 failure to supervise and failure to intervene claims seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief from Defendants Cannizzaro, Martin, and Pipes in their individual capacities and seeking monetary damages and injunctive relief against Cannizzaro in his individual capacity regarding the alleged creation and use of "subpoenas," and Plaintiffs' § 1983 claims seeking damages from Cannizzaro in his official capacity and seeking injunctive relief from Cannizzaro, Pipes, and Martin for all other claims for which this Court found that Plaintiffs adequately alleged a constitutional violation
• Count VIII: Plaintiffs' abuse of process claims except those seeking civil damages against the Individual Defendants based on prosecutors alleged abuse of Louisiana's Material Witness Statute
• Count IX: Fraud claims by Plaintiffs Doe, Bailey, LaCroix, and SIV against Cannizzaro in his official capacity and against Defendants Martin, Dover, Petrovich, and Rodrigue in their individual capacities
Plaintiffs' claims not specifically listed above are hereby DISMISSED .
The "fake subpoenas" described in the pleadings and briefs in this matter are referred to as "subpoenas" in quotation marks throughout this Order and Reasons.
See La. Rev. Stat. § 15:257. A material witness warrant, which must be signed by a judge, allows prosecutors to arrest and jail uncooperative witnesses who are "essential" to a case after it has been shown that "it may become impracticable to secure the presence of the [witness] by subpoena ..."
See Doc. 52 at 17.
See
Doc. 1.
Doc. 52.
This Court will use the term "Individual Defendants" to refer to all the ADAs plus Cannizzaro insofar as Plaintiffs make claims against him in his individual capacity.
Doc. 52 at 59.
See Doc. 63.
Ashcroft v. Iqbal,
Lormand v. U.S. Unwired, Inc.,
Iqbal ,
Lormand ,
To the extent that this Court finds that any of the Plaintiffs have alleged a constitutional violation for qualified immunity purposes, this Court will note that such a finding defeats Defendants' 12(b)(6) challenges to the same claims.
See Doc. 63.
Loupe v. O'Bannon,
Loughlin v. Tweed, No. 15-649,
See Moon v. City of El Paso,
See Doc. 67 at 16.
Doc. 67 at 16. Plaintiffs identify the prolonged detention of material witnesses as a fifth category of conduct that forms the basis of some of their claims. Because this Court finds that Plaintiffs fail to state a claim on which relief could be granted with regard to their prolonged detention claims, it need not decide whether prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity for the conduct underlying those claims. In any event, prosecutors would enjoy qualified immunity with regard to these claims because Plaintiffs have failed to allege a constitutional violation committed by the prosecutors.
Loupe ,
Id. at 539 (quoting Hart v. O'Brien,
Loupe ,
Hoog-Watson v. Guadalupe Cty., Tex.,
See Burge v. Par. of St. Tammany,
See Knapper v. Connick,
See Lester v. Caddo Par., No. 15-2008,
See Knapper ,
See Doc. 52. See also Doc. 52 at 83 (example of a "subpoena").
See Doc. 63-1 at 32. The Defendants attach minute entries from state court proceedings to filings in this case to show that the "subpoenas" were all issued after the initial trial date in each underlying criminal prosecution. See Docs. 63-4, 63-9, 88-3. The entries support Defendants' contention except in Baham's case, but the order of Baham's allegations in the Amended Complaint nevertheless suggests that the relevant conduct by prosecutors also took place after an initial trial setting had passed in the underlying criminal prosecution against Isaac Jones. See Doc. 52 at 49-52. In any event, this Court takes judicial notice of the minute entries, matters of public record, without converting Defendants' 12(b)(6) motion to one for summary judgment. See Davis v. Bayless,
See Doc. 67 at 17. See also Loupe ,
See Loupe ,
See
Lacey ,
La. Code Crim. P. art 66.
La. Code Crim. P. art 66 cmt. (a).
See La. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 92-366 at 2 (June 23, 1992) ("[O]nly a court, a Clerk of court or a coroner have authority under Louisiana law to issue subpoenas. A district attorney may only request that a subpoena be issued. Therefore ... a district attorney has no authority to issue any type of subpoena ...").
Doc. 52 at 83.
See
See Loupe ,
Burns v. Reed,
Loupe ,
Imbler ,
See Doc. 52 at 11-12, 80-82.
Imbler ,
Doc. 52 at 66 ("Silence Is Violence does not recommend that victims or their family members appear at the District Attorney's Office without a Silence Is Violence representative present. This representative's role is not only to advocate for the victim, but to serve as a witness if the victim is threatened, including with perjury, obstruction, or a material witness warrant for engaging in constitutionally protected activity.").
Imbler ,
Doc. 67 at 16.
See id. at 18-19.
See Doc. 88 at 7.
See Loupe ,
See Imbler ,
McGruder v. Necaise,
See Simon v. City of New York,
See Doe v. Harris Cty., Texas,
See Van de Kamp v. Goldstein,
Heaney v. Roberts,
Ashcroft v. al-Kidd,
See Doc. 52 at 69. The same claims also are made against Cannizzaro in his official capacity.
See Doc. 63-1 at 32-35.
Heaney ,
See Terry v. Ohio,
McLin v. Ard,
See Doc. 52 at 55.
See id. at 56.
See id. at 56-57. The Plaintiffs also claim ADA Martin violated the Fourth Amendment by instructing ADAs to use the "subpoenas." See id. at 69.
The only case referenced by Plaintiffs in this regard is California v. Hodari D. ,
See Hodari D. ,
McLin ,
Doc. 67 at 38-39 ("Plaintiffs submitted to the fraudulent subpoenas by treating them as they would real ones and undertaking the time, expense, and travel necessary to hire an attorney to challenge them.").
Because Plaintiffs Bailey and LaCroix fail to allege a constitutional violation in this regard, they also have failed to state a Fourth Amendment claim based on the alleged receipt of "subpoenas" upon which relief could be granted. Accordingly, these claims are dismissed.
See Doc. 52 at 54 ("The court ordered [Doe's attorney] to arrange a meeting for Ms. Doe to meet with prosecutors.").
Because the Amended Complaint alleges sufficient facts to show that Cannizzaro had a policy of using "subpoenas" in violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of witnesses and victims of crimes, Doe's claims for injunctive relief survive Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.
Doc. 52 at 70.
Wooley v. Maynard,
Entm't Software Ass'n v. Blagojevich,
See W. Virginia State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette,
United States v. Arnold,
Burns v. Martuscello,
Burns ,
See Doc. 52 at 70-72.
See Doc. 63-1 at 37.
Keenan v. Tejeda,
Brooks v. City of W. Point, Miss.,
See Burns ,
See Izen v. Catalina,
Plaintiff Singleton alleges that prosecutors caused her arrest immediately after she refused to answer their questions during a private meeting. Doc. 52 at 42. Plaintiff Mitchell alleges that prosecutors caused his arrest because he no longer wished to meet with them privately. Id. at 47. Plaintiff Baham alleges that prosecutors caused her arrest because she refused to meet with them. Id. at 50. Plaintiffs Doe, Bailey, and LaCroix allege they were threatened with arrest for refusing to meet with prosecutors. Id. at 53, 55, 56.
Because this Court finds that Plaintiffs have alleged a constitutional violation in this regard, their claims for injunctive relief and for monetary damages from Cannizzaro in his official capacity remain. That is, they have stated facts to make out plausible First Amendment retaliation claims. This holding, however, does not apply to Plaintiff Roe's retaliation claim. The allegations do not show that Roe's arrest was substantially motivated by his refusal to speak. In fact, Roe never refused to speak in the first place. He never got the chance because prosecutors never reached him. See Doc. 52 at 58-62. As such, Plaintiff Roe has failed to state a First Amendment retaliation claim, and his claim must be dismissed.
Doc. 52 at 73.
See Reyes v. N. Texas Tollway Auth.,
Doe ex rel. Magee v. Covington Cty. Sch. Dist. ex rel. Keys,
Jordan v. Fisher,
This finding defeats Defendants' argument that Plaintiffs have failed to state a substantive due process claim upon which relief could be granted.
Rochin v. California,
Doc. 52 at 68.
Doc. 63-1 at 31.
See Franks v. Delaware,
Michalik v. Hermann,
See, e.g. , United States v. Awadallah,
Franks ,
Fla. v. Harris,
See White by Swafford v. Gerbitz,
See Docs. 63-1 at 27, 67 at 25.
La. Rev. Stat. § 15:257.
See Winfrey v. Rogers,
Doc. 63-3.
See Doc. 67 at 27-28.
See Doc. 63-3.
Doc. 63-10.
Doc. 67 at 29. Mitchell additionally objects on the ground that prosecutors told the judge orally that Mitchell had bought a bus ticket to leave town, but in fact Mitchell had bought no such bus ticket.
See Al-Kidd ,
Doc. 63-10.
Doc. 63-8.
Doc. 67 at 31.
Doc. 63-11.
Doc. 67 at 34.
La. Code Crim. P. art 66.
See
See La. Rev. Stat. § 15:257.
See Doc. 52 at 46, 50.
U.S. Const. amend. XIV.
Jones v. City of Jackson,
Doc. 63-8 at 2.
Doc. 52 at 51.
See Mills v. City of Bogalusa, No. 13-5477,
See La. Rev. Stat. § 15:257. See also Ashcroft ,
See La. Code Crim. P. art 66.
See Doc. 52 at 75.
Schaumburg v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.,
Doc. 63-1 at 43.
See Doc. 52 at 41-42.
See id. at 40.
See id. at 50.
See Doc. 52.
Doc. 63-1 at 46.
See Doc. 63-1 at 46.
See
Id. at 46.
Scott v. Schedler,
See, e.g. , Latino All. for Human Rights v. Governor of Georgia,
Fowler ,
See Doc. 67 at 31.
See, e.g. , OCA-Greater Houston v. Texas,
See Docs. 63-1; 88 at 21.
See OCA-Greater Houston ,
See Doc. 63-1 at 48.
Doc. 52 at 67.
For the same reasons that the other Plaintiffs' abuse of process claims regarding the alleged misuse of the material witness warrant statute are barred by absolute immunity, so too are SIV's.
See Doc. 67.
Wallace v. Kato,
La. Civ. Code art. 3492.
King-White v. Humble Indep. Sch. Dist.,
Wallace ,
Manuel v. City of Joliet, Ill., --- U.S. ----,
Martinez v. Hidalgo Cty., Texas,
Doc. 52 at 48.
See
Id. at 49.
See No Drama, LLC v. Caluda,
See Doc. 52.
Wimberly v. Gatch,
See
Marin v. Exxon Mobil Corp.,
See Doc. 67 at 13.
Even though Plaintiff Mitchell's claims do not involve receipt of a "subpoena," for the same reasons his § 1983 claims are not prescribed, neither are his state law claims.
Even if the discovery rule did not apply to Plaintiffs' state law claims, the fraudulent concealment rule would. Claims by each of the relevant Plaintiffs involve allegations that the Defendants engaged in fraud, that the fraud effectually prevented them from pursuing their claims, and that it was reasonable for them to delay in filing suit. See Prevo v. State ex rel. Dep't of Pub. Safety & Corr. Div. of Prob. & Parole,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Renata SINGLETON v. Leon CANNIZZARO
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published