Jiron v. City of Lakewood, 02-1421.
| Citation | 392 F.3d 410 |
| Decision Date | 20 December 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-1421.,No. 02-1505.,02-1421.,02-1505. |
| Parties | Jessica JIRON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF LAKEWOOD; Lakewood Police Department; Charles Johnson, Chief of Police; and Officer Margaret Halpin, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
Joseph J. Mellon (Kristin K. Potter with him on the briefs), Shughart Thomson & Kilroy, P.C., for Plaintiff-Appellant Jessica Jiron.
Christina M. Habas, Bruno, Bruno & Colin, P.C., for Defendant-Appellee Margaret Halpin.
J. Andrew Nathan (Andrew J. Fisher with him on the brief), Nathan, Bremer, Dumm & Myers, P.C., for Defendants-Appellees City of Lakewood, Lakewood Police Department, and Charles Johnson.
Before EBEL, Circuit Judge, BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge, and MURPHY, Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff Jessica Jiron brought this § 1983 action against the City of Lakewood, the Lakewood Police Department, Chief of Police Charles Johnson, and Officer Margaret Halpin alleging a violation of her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment right to be free from the use of excessive force. Plaintiff claims that Officer Halpin used excessive force in shooting Plaintiff during the course of Plaintiff's arrest and that the other defendants inadequately trained and supervised Officer Halpin. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Officer Halpin on the basis of qualified immunity and dismissed Plaintiff's claims against the remaining defendants. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we AFFIRM.
At about 4:00 p.m. on October 13, 1998, Police Officer Margaret Halpin responded to a report of the presence of two drunk girls at an apartment complex in Lakewood, Colorado. While Officer Halpin was on her way to the complex, dispatch alerted her that these two girls were suspected of having stolen a purse. At the scene, Officer Halpin confronted fifteen-year-old Plaintiff Jessica Jiron, one of the two suspects. When Officer Halpin tried to handcuff Plaintiff, Plaintiff ran into her sister's second story apartment. Officer Halpin followed her. In the apartment, Plaintiff ran into the kitchen, grabbed a 6- to 10-inch knife, and ran toward the back bedroom.
Officer Halpin called for emergency backup as she headed toward the back bedroom. There were two means by which Plaintiff could exit the bedroom — through a window and through the bedroom door. Officer Halpin had intended to keep Plaintiff in that bedroom until she could get sufficient backup on the scene to resolve the situation peacefully. Officer Halpin's plan changed when she heard Plaintiff attempting to escape through the bedroom window. In response to Plaintiff's escape attempt, Officer John Griffith, another law enforcement officer on the scene, went downstairs and outside to cover the window.
In the meantime, Officer Halpin opened the bedroom door and noticed that Plaintiff had the knife in her hand as she attempted to escape out the window. Plaintiff had successfully cut the window screen and had one leg out the window. Officer Halpin ordered her to stop, and Plaintiff turned around and came at the bedroom door with the knife in her hand. Officer Halpin retreated down the hallway, and Plaintiff closed the bedroom door and went back into the bedroom. Officer Halpin then walked back down the hallway, opened the bedroom door, and saw Plaintiff again working at the window. Plaintiff again turned around and came at Officer Halpin with a knife. Officer Halpin again retreated down the hallway, and Plaintiff again closed the bedroom door.
Officer Halpin once more walked back down the hallway, opened the bedroom door, and, through the crack between the wall and the door, saw Plaintiff hiding behind the bedroom door. Officer Halpin repeatedly ordered Plaintiff to exit the bedroom and drop her knife. Plaintiff finally exited the bedroom into the hallway, put the knife up to her chin, and told Officer Halpin that she would kill herself. Although up to this point Plaintiff had been crying, screaming, yelling, and cursing, when she exited the bedroom she became very calm, was no longer crying, and had a "fixed, determined stare" on her face.
According to Officer Halpin's assessment of the situation, Plaintiff had apparently decided "[s]he wasn't going to put up with anything else." Officer Halpin reported that Plaintiff began advancing toward Officer Halpin as Officer Halpin demanded that Plaintiff drop her weapon. Officer Halpin, with gun drawn, told Plaintiff, "If you don't stop where you are, I'll have to kill you here." Plaintiff responded, About five feet from where Officer Halpin stood, Plaintiff turned the knife toward her (Officer Halpin), raised it up, and started "hacking it in the air." Officer Halpin then shot Plaintiff once in the abdomen, and Plaintiff fell to the floor.
Plaintiff was then charged under Colorado law with: (1) attempted murder of a police officer; (2) first degree assault; (3) second degree burglary; (4) theft; and (5) felony menacing. Plaintiff pled guilty to felony menacing and second degree burglary. At the plea proceeding Plaintiff stipulated to the use of the record as the factual basis for her plea. That record included Officer Halpin's preliminary hearing testimony that Plaintiff hacked the knife in the air as she advanced toward Officer Halpin. Plaintiff agreed at the plea proceeding that she was pleading guilty to having knowingly placed a police officer "in fear of imminent serious bodily injury by the use of a knife using threats or physical actions." Even after the trial court told Plaintiff during the plea proceeding that he "can't let someone walk into this court and plead guilty to something she didn't commit," Plaintiff continued to express a desire to enter a plea of guilty. The court accepted her plea, sentenced Plaintiff to six years imprisonment, and dismissed the remaining counts.
Plaintiff then brought this action, alleging a violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Lakewood, the Lakewood Police Department, the Chief of Police, and Officer Halpin. Plaintiff claims that Officer Halpin violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment right to be free from the use of excessive force and that the other defendants exhibited deliberate indifference to Plaintiff's rights through inadequate training and supervision of Lakewood police officers. In this § 1983 action, Plaintiff disputes the facts that led to her conviction by guilty plea in Colorado court. Specifically, Plaintiff testified in a deposition in this case that after she exited the bedroom she did not advance toward Officer Halpin and that Officer Halpin shot her as she stood in place holding the knife to her own throat.
The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Officer Halpin, concluding that Officer Halpin was entitled to qualified immunity because Officer Halpin's use of force was objectively reasonable. The district court also dismissed Plaintiff's claims against the remaining defendants. Plaintiff timely filed this appeal. She argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Officer Halpin on the basis of qualified immunity and in dismissing Plaintiff's claims against the remaining defendants.1
We review a grant of summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity de novo. Foote v. Spiegel, 118 F.3d 1416, 1424 (10th Cir.1997). Summary judgment is appropriate if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and one party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). We construe the record in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Reed v. McKune, 298 F.3d 946, 949 (10th Cir.2002).
Qualified immunity is "an entitlement not to stand trial or face the other burdens of litigation." Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). The privilege "is an immunity from suit rather than a mere defense to liability; and like an absolute immunity, it is effectively lost if a case is erroneously permitted to go to trial." Id. Accordingly, qualified immunity questions should be resolved at the earliest possible stage in litigation. Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001). "[E]ven such pretrial matters as discovery are to be avoided if possible, as inquiries of this kind can be peculiarly disruptive of effective government." Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806 (internal quotations omitted).
After a defendant pleads qualified immunity, the plaintiff in a case like this one, which alleges a violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, must demonstrate that the defendant's actions violated a specific constitutional right. Saucier, 533 U.S. at 201, 121 S.Ct. 2151. If the plaintiff fails to meet his or her burden on this threshold inquiry, the qualified immunity inquiry comes to an end. Id. If the plaintiff meets this initial burden, he or she must then show that the constitutional right was "clearly established" prior to the challenged official action. Id."The relevant, dispositive inquiry in determining whether a right is clearly established is whether it would be clear to a reasonable officer that his conduct was unlawful in the situation he confronted." Holland v. Harrington, 268 F.3d 1179, 1186 (10th Cir.2001) (internal quotations omitted). This requirement that the right have been "clearly established" is designed to protect "all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law." Malley v. Briggs, 475 U.S. 335, 341, 106 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed.2d 271 (1986).
Accordingly, we first address whether Officer Halpin's use of force against Plaintiff violated Plaintiff's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment right to be free from the use of excessive force. Excessive force claims are evaluated...
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