Walrath v. U.S.

Decision Date08 September 1994
Docket NumberNo. 93-3953,93-3953
PartiesJohn E. WALRATH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Carol P. Getty, Regional U.S. Parole Commissioner, in her individual capacity, Carol W. Muller, U.S. Parole Commission, Senior Case Analyst, in her individual capacity, Michael Stover and John Magnuson, Defendants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Daniel S. Alexander, Patrick E. Boyle (argued), Arnold & Alexander, Chicago, IL, for John E. Walrath.

Jonathan Haile (argued), Office of U.S. Atty., Civ. Div., Chicago, IL, for defendants-appellees.

Before BAUER, COFFEY and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

KANNE, Circuit Judge.

John E. Walrath filed a complaint pursuant to Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), in which he alleged that the United States, Carol Pavilack Getty, Carol Wilson Muller, Michael Stover, and John Magnuson had violated his constitutional rights by causing his parole to be revoked. Walrath further alleged that the defendants conspired to retaliate against him for seeking to vindicate his constitutional rights, fabricated false charges in order to conceal the fact that his incarceration was illegal, and imposed certain conditions of parole which infringed upon his right to privacy and caused him severe mental anguish. The district court denied Walrath's request for injunctive relief against the United States, then dismissed his suit for monetary damages against the individual defendants on the ground that they are entitled to absolute immunity. This appeal concerns the immunity of the individual defendants from Walrath's claim for damages.

I. FACTS

On October 13, 1970, John Walrath was convicted in federal court of kidnapping a six-year-old boy. According to Walrath's presentence report, he abducted the child in Chicago, Illinois, sexually molested him, then took him to Hart, Michigan. Three men who observed Walrath attempting to drown the young boy in Lake Michigan intervened and were able to rescue him. On February 19, 1971, Walrath was sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was released on parole in 1983. His parole was revoked in late 1990 after he was convicted of retail theft and resisting arrest, and had failed to report the arrest and conviction to his parole officer. On May 8, 1992, Walrath was paroled for a second time. The circumstances surrounding the revocation of his second parole led to this Bivens action.

As a special condition of Walrath's parole, he was required to participate in a mental health treatment program as directed by his probation officer, Terry Childers. Childers first referred Walrath to the Midwest Family Resources Associates, Ltd., in Oak Park, Illinois, for an evaluation. Following a series of interviews, Midwest Family Resources informed Childers that Walrath had been reluctant to discuss his sexual history, and that a clinical polygraph examination and a penile plethysmograph to measure Walrath's patterns of sexual arousal would be necessary to complete the evaluation. Walrath agreed to continue counseling, but refused to undergo any invasive tests.

On July 25, 1992, Childers visited Walrath at his apartment to discuss his mental health evaluation. When the discussion turned to the proposed tests, Walrath became agitated. Childers felt it would be wise to end the interview, and left the apartment. He was met in the lobby by Walrath, who continued to argue about the evaluation. Walrath then climbed onto Childers' automobile, preventing him from leaving. After being told repeatedly to get off the car, Walrath finally did so, but then took his own car and followed Childers for more than a mile before returning home. Childers reported the incident to the United States Parole Commission (USPC). Although Childers did not recommend that a parole violator warrant issue, upon a review of Childers' report and the information from Midwest Family Resources, Senior Case Analyst Carol Wilson Muller caused a warrant to issue for Walrath's arrest. The allegations were that Walrath had violated the special conditions of his parole (Charge One), and that he had attempted to assault Childers (Charge Two). On September 4, 1992, Walrath was arrested at his home and taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he remained until March 4, 1993. From March 4, 1993, until April 26, 1993, Walrath was held in custody at a halfway house.

A preliminary hearing was held by the USPC on September 14, 1992, to determine whether Walrath's arrest had been supported by probable cause. At the hearing, Childers stated that prior to Walrath's arrest, he had informed Walrath that he would not be required to submit to a polygraph examination or a penile plethysmograph simply on the word of Midwest Family Resources, without further clarification from the USPC. Walrath, in turn, agreed to comply with the mental health aftercare conditions of his parole, provided that he be allowed to seek judicial review of any requirements that he believed violated his constitutional rights. USPC Hearing Officer Ronald Kumke accordingly found no probable cause for Charge One.

Regional United States Parole Commissioner Carol Pavilack Getty and Case Analyst John Magnuson overrode Kumke's recommendation, and ordered that Walrath be held on Charge One. Concerning Charge Two, Childers testified that he had not felt threatened by Walrath's behavior on July 25, 1992, nor had he believed there was any need to request a parole violator warrant. As the district court observed, it is unclear whether Kumke found probable cause to hold Walrath on Charge Two. Instead, it is apparent that at some point Charge Two was amended to state that Walrath had threatened to assault Childers.

On November 13, 1992, Walrath filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2241, in federal court. A parole revocation hearing was held on December 9 1992, before two hearing officers of the USPC. Following the hearing, the officers found that there was no basis for Charge One, and that Charge Two should be downgraded to the offense of disorderly conduct. The officers further recommended that Walrath be held in custody for six months on the basis of the disorderly conduct charge. Walrath, through his attorney, informed the hearing officers that he had not been advised of the disorderly conduct charge, and was thus unprepared to present a defense to that charge at the hearing.

Less than one month after the revocation hearing, Michael Stover, General Counsel to the USPC, wrote a memorandum to Magnuson recommending that a special reconsideration hearing be held for Walrath in light of the fact that the incident involving Childers did not meet the state statutory requirements for disorderly conduct, and that in any event, Walrath had not received sufficient notice of the USPC's intention to amend the charge. Stover further recommended that the warrant be revised to charge Walrath with threatening to assault his probation officer. Magnuson advised Getty of Stover's recommendation, who concurred in setting a special reconsideration hearing for Walrath, to be held on February 25, 1993. Walrath alleges that neither he nor his attorney were notified of the new charge until the day of the special hearing, and that the hearing was merely designed to conceal the illegality of Walrath's detention.

At the February 25, 1993 hearing, Walrath's attorney advised the hearing officers that he had not received adequate notice of the new charge, and that Walrath would not participate in the hearing because of the highly irregular procedures that had been employed in his case. Relying solely on the record that had been developed during Walrath's first revocation hearing, the second panel again found that Walrath had not violated the special conditions of his parole (Charge One). The panel also determined that there was insufficient evidence to support the charge that Walrath had threatened to assault Childers (Charge Two). It accordingly recommended that Walrath's parole not be revoked, and that he be reinstated to supervision and released from custody.

The same day, the USPC issued an expedited order stating that Walrath should be released from custody forthwith, subject to special conditions of mental health after-care. Pending finalization of the expedited order, Walrath attempted to regain his liberty by posting bond. When that failed, he asked the district judge presiding over his petition for habeas corpus to order his immediate release on bond. Walrath alleges that in retaliation for his efforts to obtain his lawful release, Getty, Stover and others overrode the panel's order, and issued a new order directing that Walrath's parole be revoked and that he be held in custody for up to 180 days. Walrath further maintains that Getty and Stover invented a new charge, "implied threat to assault," in an effort to justify his further incarceration, as well as to conceal their violation of his constitutional rights.

Following his release from the halfway house, Walrath moved for voluntary dismissal of his habeas corpus petition, then filed the present civil rights complaint pursuant to Bivens. The district court denied his request for injunctive relief against the United States on July 29, 1993. Walrath does not challenge that decision. The remaining defendants moved to dismiss Walrath's action for compensatory and punitive damages on the grounds that the court was without personal jurisdiction over the defendants, that each of the defendants was entitled to absolute immunity for their decisions, and that the existence of other remedies, as well as the danger that a court-ordered remedy would interfere with the effective functioning of the USPC, precluded the court from creating a Bivens action in this case. The district court determined that the defendants were absolutely immune from civil suit for damages for their decision to...

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