Ayers v. Davidson
Opinion of the Court
Defendants Mark Snowden and Todd Davidson appeal the district court’s order denying qualified immunity on the Plaintiffs’ claim that defendants testified falsely before the grand jury. The Defendants moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The district court denied the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
BACKGROUND
Officers Mark Snowden and Todd Davidson (“Officers”) caused a confidential informant to buy controlled substances from a man known as “Rick” living in a mobile home park at 575 Bellwood Road, Morristown, Tennessee on March 19, April 27, and April 30, 2001. At one point the Officers had Lot 8 under surveillance. A man named Rick Johnson lived at Lot 8. The confidential informant was confused about whether she went to Lot 8 or Lot 9 for the first buy, and she told the Officers that a van parked near Lot 8 belonged to the drug dealer “Rick.” The Officers discovered that the van belonged to Lonnie R. Ayers in Lot 9. As part of the Officers’ investigations, audiotapes of a drug buy were made and the voices of a lady named “Denise” and her stepson “Brent” were on the audiotape. Mr. Ayers alleges that Denise is the wife or girlfriend of Rick Johnson in Lot 8.
On April 27, 2001, shortly before her second buy, the Officers showed a picture
The officers “reasonably” believed and had reason to believe the informant was rehable. Previously, the confidential informant provided the police the names of nine or ten individuals who were drug dealers. Also, she had assisted in 11 or 12 cases involving five or six suspects. Further, the confidential informant had correctly identified suspects from photographs in other cases, and there were no other problems with the arrests and prosecutions of other suspects. Officer Davidson admitted that he did not tell the District Attorney about the conflict between Lot 8 and Lot 9 because he felt that the matter had been resolved when the “rehable” informant had identified Lonnie R. Ayers as her dealer.
Officer Snowden was the only witness against Mr. Ayers to testify before the grand jury. The grand jury returned an indictment against Mr. Ayers and he was arrested and detained. The District Attorney dismissed the charges by nolle prosequi after discovering that there had been problems identifying Mr. Ayers.
ANALYSIS
The district court found that the Officers had not shown that they were entitled to qualified immunity based on Ayers’s arrest following an indictment and/or based upon their lack of participation in the actual arrest. The court also found that the Officers were not entitled to qualified immunity because there was an issue of material fact as to their involvement in making material omissions in the evidence used to establish probable cause for the indictment and these omissions could constitute a reckless disregard for the truth.
We do not have jurisdiction over an interlocutory appeal from a denial of qualified immunity when the denial is based on the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in dispute. Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 319-320, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995). See also Mattox v. City of Forest Park, 183 F.3d 515, 519 (6th Cir. 1999). Both officers admit that the facts are not in dispute. Because a factual dispute as to qualified immunity would entitle the Ayerses to dismissal of the Officers’ appeal, we will examine the merits of this case using the facts submitted by Mr. Ayers as undisputed facts. Farm Labor Org. Comm. v. Ohio State Highway Patrol, 308 F.3d 523, 531, n. 3 (6th Cir. 2002) (noting we have jurisdiction to hear the case when the defendants claim the facts are not in dispute and accept plaintiffs facts.).
To determine if an officer is entitled to qualified immunity, we must follow a two step analysis. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). First, the facts must show that the officer violated a constitutional right. Id. Second, the right must be clearly established so that a reasonable officer would understand that what he is doing violates that right. Id. at 201-02. The officers are entitled to qualified immunity if a reasonable officer could have believed that the arrest is lawful in light of the information that the officer had and clearly established law. Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 227, 112 S.Ct. 534, 116 L.Ed.2d 589 (1991). “Even law enforcement officials who ‘reasonably but mistakenly conclude that probable cause is present’ are entitled to immunity.” Id. (quoting Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 641, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987)).
Officer Snowden presumably testified that the confidential informant identified Mr. Ayers as the drug dealer that supplied her with drugs.
In the context of qualified immunity and probable case, the Second Circuit examined whether there would be probable cause even if the omitted information had been disclosed. Smith v. Edwards, 175 F.3d 99, 106 (2d Cir. 1999) (holding that even if the omitted information had been included, it would not have been material to the finding of probable cause). Here the omitted information consists primarily of three facts: the confidential informant was not sure whether she had gone to the trailer in Lot 8 or Lot 9 for the first buy, the police knew the dealer went by the name of “Rick” but did not know if Mr. Ayers middle initial “R” stood for Rick, and Denise and Brent were on a surveillance tape. In the complaint, Mr. Ayers alleges that “the tape recorded drug transaction referenced Rick Johnson and his wife, Denise and her child.” In Mr. Ayers’s response to motion for summary judgment, he states “the suspect they pur
Q. And it would be a pretty simple proposition to figure out if the person the tapes, the three audio tapes, if that voice matches with Lonnie Ayers’ voice or not, that would be pretty easy to—
A. No, it would not be easy. There’s multiple voices on some of those tapes, multiple male voices. It would not be easy, no, it would not.
Q. All right. And would you agree that just a cursory examination of the transcripts of the tape shows that there’s a lady named Denise involved and her stepson, Brent?
A. Yes.
Q. And there’s nobody in the Lonnie Ayers’s household with a girlfriend named Denise and a stepson. Brent, would you agree with that?
A. I don’t know. I don’t know who is in the Lonnie Ayers’ house, so I don’t know.
The evidence submitted by Mr. Ayers shows only that Denise and Brent were present and he has submitted no evidence to show that Denise is in fact the wife or girlfriend of Rick Johnson. Further, none of these facts directly show that Mr. Ayers was not the dealer. The facts merely show that the police could have investigated further. “This Court recognizes that an officer does not have to investigate independently every claim of innocence. But, this axiom does not suggest that an officer has no duty to investigate an alleged crime before making an arrest.” Gccrdenhire v. Schubert, 205 F.3d 303, 318 (6th Cir. 2000). “[T]he officer must consider the totality of the circumstances, recognizing both the inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, before determining if he has probable cause to make an arrest.” Id.
Finally, Officer Snowden did not give false or misleading testimony even if he told the grand jury nothing more than that the confidential informant identified Mr. Ayers as the drug dealer. The confidential informant did in fact identify Mr. Ayers as the drug dealer. The fact that she may have been mistaken about where Mr. Ayers lived does not change the fact that she identified him from his picture, and that she did not change her identification of Mr. Ayers even after two more drug buys.
CONCLUSION
Officer Davidson did not testify before the grand jury. Therefore, the claims against him should be dismissed. Officer Snowden is entitled to qualified immunity. The decision of the district court is REVERSED and the case REMANDED with instructions to dismiss the complaint.
. The grand jury testimony was not included in the joint appendix. However, this appears to be what Mr. Ayers is arguing.
Concurring in Part
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the majority’s conclusion that Officer Todd Davidson is entitled to qualified immunity on the ground that he neither testified before the grand jury nor participated in Ayers’s arrest. But I disagree with the majority’s decision to reverse the judgment of the district court with respect to Officer Mark Snowden. I believe that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Officer Snowden showed a reckless disregard for the truth when he testified before the grand jury.
I acknowledge that the two subsequent drug purchases from “Rick” by the confidential informant make more questionable the issue of whether a reasonable juror could find that Officer Snowden showed a reckless disregard for the truth when he testified before the grand jury. Nevertheless, in light of the collective omissions discussed above, I believe that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether Officer Snowden showed such reckless disregard. I would therefore affirm the judgment of the district court as it pertains to Officer Snowden.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Lonnie AYERS and Virginia Ayers v. Todd DAVIDSON, Individually, and in his capacity as a police officer employed by the City of Morristown City of Morristown, Tennessee, and Mark Snowden, Individually, and in his capacity as an officer employed by Hamblen County Tennessee Hamblen County, Tennessee
- Status
- Published