Spurlock v. Satterfield

• Decision Date: 11 February 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-6076,97-6076
• Citation: 167 F.3d 995
• Parties: Robert SPURLOCK and Ronnie Marshall, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Danny SATTERFIELD, Defendant-Appellant, Lawrence Ray Whitley; Jerry R. Kitchen; John D. Coarsey; Henry Apple; Sumner County, Tennessee; City of Hendersonville, Tennessee, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 995

167 F.3d 995

Robert SPURLOCK and Ronnie Marshall, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Danny SATTERFIELD, Defendant-Appellant, Lawrence Ray Whitley; Jerry R. Kitchen; John D. Coarsey;

Henry Apple; Sumner County, Tennessee; City of

Hendersonville, Tennessee, Defendants.

No. 97-6076.

United States Court of Appeals,

Sixth Circuit.

Argued July 30, 1998.

Decided Feb. 11, 1999.

Andrew B. Campbell (argued and briefed), J. Graham Matherne (briefed), Wyatt, Tarrant, Combs, Gilbert & Milom, Nashville, Tennessee, for Defendants-Appellants.

Rick Halprin (argued and submitted), Chicago, Illinois, Nathan Diamond-Falk (briefed), Chicago, Illinois, George Whitney Kemper, Hendersonville, Tennessee, Judith A. Halprin (briefed), Highland Park, Illinois, for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Before: JONES, RYAN, and MOORE, Circuit Judges.

NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-Appellant, Danny Satterfield, a Deputy with the Sumner County Sheriff's Department ("S.C.S.D."), appeals the district court's order denying his motion to dismiss based on absolute or qualified immunity. Plaintiffs-Appellees, Robert Spurlock and Ronnie Marshall, alleged that Satterfield committed various acts that violated their constitutional and/or statutory rights. For the reasons stated herein, we find that Satterfield is not entitled to either absolute or qualified immunity for these alleged actions, and affirm the district court's decision.

I.

On February 21, 1989, the body of Lonnie Malone was found in a culvert of Bug Hollow Road in Sumner County, Tennessee. ¹ Malone had died as a result of multiple stab wounds. According to Spurlock and Marshall, Satterfield and other S.C.S.D. law enforcement officials immediately focused the investigation into the murder upon them. ² Spurlock alleges that although S.C.S.D. officers obtained a search warrant for his home and automobile on the following day, no evidence was discovered linking him to the crime. He contends that even though he provided the officers with an alibi and alibi witnesses, the officers failed to investigate his claims and refused his offer to take a polygraph test. Further, during the investigation, officers discovered a significant amount of evidence linking others to the Malone murder, but ignored it. ³ Subsequently, defendant Lawrence Ray Whitley, Sumner County District Attorney, announced that a reward was being offered to any individual who could provide information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual involved in the Malone murder.

A. April 27, 1990 Events

Spurlock and Marshall contend that defendant John Coarsey, a Hendersonville, Tennessee police officer, learned of the reward and devised a scheme to obtain the reward money. To effectuate this scheme, Coarsey claimed to have received information concerning the crime from an informant, defendant Henry Apple, who at that time was incarcerated in the Sumner County jail for failure to pay child support. According to plaintiffs, Coarsey knew Apple to be a "drug user" and "street informant." Shortly thereafter, Coarsey contacted Satterfield, and the two went to the county jail in order to interrogate Apple about the Malone homicide. Spurlock contends that when Apple was initially confronted, he denied any knowledge of the crime, but through pressure, threats of prosecution, and the defendants' promises to help Apple and his family, Apple agreed to implicate Spurlock and Marshall for the Malone murder. Coarsey also allegedly told Apple that if he would implicate Spurlock and Marshall, the District Attorney General would secure his release from the county jail. According to plaintiffs, Apple had no knowledge of the details of the crime. Thus, in order for Apple to effectively pose as an informant, Coarsey and Satterfield then allegedly informed Apple of all of the information he needed concerning the details of the crime.

Subsequently, Coarsey and Satterfield contacted defendant Whitley and informed him that they had coerced Apple into falsely implicating Spurlock and Marshall for the Malone murder. Whitley then met with Apple at the jail, and allegedly assured Apple of his release in exchange for falsely implicating Spurlock and Marshall. According to plaintiffs, later that day, Whitley, Satterfield and Coarsey, after assuring themselves that Apple "had his story straight," arranged a videotaped interview with Apple concerning the crime. ⁴ After viewing the tape, however, the defendants were not satisfied, and Whitley directed Satterfield to place more pressure on Apple to make false statements concerning the crime, including a statement that he had actually seen the killing. ⁵ Satterfield and other defendants also allegedly told Apple that if he would say that he actually saw the killing, he would be entitled to receive the reward money. Plaintiffs further allege that in other portions of this April 27, 1990 videotape Apple spoke with Whitley, in the presence of Satterfield, about the possibility of immediate release. Despite the defendants' promises to secure his immediate release, as of April 29, 1990, Apple was still incarcerated in the Sumner County jail. Apple became concerned that Whitley would renege on his promises to secure his release in exchange for falsely implicating Spurlock and Marshall. Thus, Apple discussed his concerns with a guard at the jail, who recorded the conversation.

B. April 30, 1997 Events

Satterfield and other defendants became aware of Apple's concerns, and ultimately decided not to induce Apple to falsely assert that he had actually seen the killing. Instead, the defendants decided to create a second videotape in order to conceal the prior recorded conversations. In this second tape, recorded on April 30, 1990, Apple was to state that that date was the first time that he had spoken with law enforcement officials concerning his knowledge of the Malone murder. After making the second tape recorded conversation of his alleged knowledge of the Malone murder, Apple was released from jail.

C. Criminal Trials of Spurlock and Marshall

On May 9, 1990, Whitley and defendant Assistant District Attorney Jerry Kitchen presented Apple's statements to a Sumner County grand jury, which then indicted Spurlock and Marshall for the first degree murder of Malone. According to Spurlock and Marshall, in order to ensure that they would be convicted, Whitley and Kitchen also threatened Priscilla Blakemore ⁶ with criminal prosecution if she did not falsely state that she had seen Marshall on the night of the murder with mud all over his clothes, and that he had "confessed" to her that night.

On September 27, 1990, a jury convicted Marshall of first degree murder. On October 17, 1990, a jury also convicted Spurlock of first degree murder. Both Spurlock and Marshall were subsequently sentenced to life in prison. Thereafter, they both filed post-trial motions seeking new trials and alleging prosecutorial misconduct and violations of their constitutional rights. Plaintiffs claim that while their appeals were pending, Satterfield and other "conspirators" attempted to prevent them from receiving new trials by doing such things as giving "hush" money to Apple in order to ensure his continuing silence concerning the previous events. Marshall's motion for a new trial was denied on November 6, 1990 and Spurlock's motion was denied on January 11, 1991. ⁷

Despite the defendants' efforts, Marshall eventually won his appeal and was granted a new trial on December 1, 1992. See State v. Marshall, 845 S.W.2d 228 (Tenn.Crim.App.1992). In May 1993, Spurlock's conviction was reversed and remanded and a new trial was ordered. See Spurlock, 874 S.W.2d at 620-22 (holding that the prosecution had unconstitutionally suppressed exculpatory evidence, including the April 27, 1990 tape recorded conversation between Apple, Coarsey and Whitley). The court also held that Whitley unconstitutionally elicited false testimony from Satterfield and Apple at trial. Id. The court further concluded that Satterfield falsely testified when, during his direct examination, he replied that no promises had been made to Apple and that the April 30 interview was the first time that Apple had made any statements concerning the crime. Id.

For Spurlock's second murder trial, Whitley recused himself as prosecutor, allegedly in order to bolster Apple's credibility. In January 1995, Apple and Whitley falsely testified against Spurlock. Plaintiffs claim that as a result of this false testimony, Spurlock was convicted of second degree murder and subsequently sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Spurlock's subsequent motions for a new trial were denied, and Spurlock once again appealed his conviction and sentence.

Thereafter, Whitley was busy at work in Marshall's case. Whitley offered Marshall a "best interest plea" in which Marshall would not have to admit guilt for the Malone murder. In return, Marshall would receive a ten year probationary sentence. According to plaintiffs, "Marshall acquiesced in the offer in order to avoid again being convicted on false testimony and incarcerated." Second Amended Complaint, at p 25. Consequently, Marshall was sentenced to an alternative ten year sentence, which would end in the year 2005.

During the period of Spurlock's appeal and Marshall's sentence, Bob Baker, a Lieutenant with the S.C.S.D., conducted a new investigation into the Malone murder and obtained information linking other individuals to the crime. As a result of this investigation, these other individuals confessed to the Malone murder. On March 6, 1996, Spurlock's and Marshall's convictions were again vacated and new trials ordered.

D. Civil Actions

On October 9, 1996, Spurlock and Marshall filed separate complaints in federal district court asserting claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983 and 1988 and the United States Constitution. ⁸ Spurlock and Marshall also brought pendent state law malicious prosecution claims. The cases were subsequently...