Armijo ex rel. Armijo Sanchez v. Peterson

• Decision Date: 13 April 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-2114.,09-2114.
• Citation: 601 F.3d 1065
• Parties: Martha ARMIJO, as parent and best friend of Christopher ARMIJO SANCHEZ, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Rob PETERSON; Charles Hook; Dario Soliz; Eric Sanchez; Melissa Molina; Wallace Downs; Brian Goodman; Gabriella Graham, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

601 F.3d 1065

Martha ARMIJO, as parent and best friend of Christopher ARMIJO SANCHEZ, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Rob PETERSON; Charles Hook; Dario Soliz; Eric Sanchez; Melissa Molina; Wallace Downs; Brian Goodman; Gabriella Graham, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 09-2114.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

April 13, 2010.

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Jose Coronado, Las Cruces, NM, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Jared Abrams, Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Las Cruces, Las Cruces, NM, for Defendants-Appellants.

Before KELLY, EBEL, and BRISCOE, Circuit Judges.

KELLY, Circuit Judge.

Defendants-Appellants, several municipal law enforcement officers, appeal from the district court's denial of qualified immunity in this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Plaintiff-Appellee Martha Armijo sued the officers for violating the Fourth Amendment when the officers entered and searched her home and detained her son, Christopher Armijo Sanchez. On summary judgment, the district court denied qualified immunity, citing material facts in dispute. Because under any view of the facts the officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment, they deserve qualified immunity. We reverse.

Background

We set forth Plaintiff's version of the facts.

I. Gangs and Anonymous Callers Threatened Oñate High School.

On September 22, 2006, an anonymous caller made two bomb threats to Oñate High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Stip.App. at 33-36. During the two months immediately preceding these calls, police officers assigned to the high school had dealt with various gang problems and multiple bomb and shooting threats. Stip. App. at 31-32, 102. Only three days before, an anonymous caller had made a bomb and shooting threat. Stip.App. at 32.

The morning of the threats, two female students predicted them to Oñate High School's principal. Stip.App. at 33. The students told the principal that the day before they had seen a fight between two rival gangs, the East Siders and the Sureños. Id. According to the students, the gang members said that they would bring guns to school the next day, call in a bomb threat to force the school to evacuate, and open fire on the students or start a gunfight when the students were outside. Id. Although the students did not know the gang members' names, they recognized them from Oñate High School and assumed they referred to that school. Id.

Next, a woman identifying herself as the mother of a boy attending Mayfield High School called the principal of Oñate High School. Stip.App. at 33-34. The woman said that her son told her that a male named Chris would call in a bomb threat to Oñate High School. Stip.App. at 34. She said that Chris was a member of the East Siders gang and that Chris had formerly attended Oñate High School but recently started at Mayfield High School. Id. The principal told the police officer assigned to the school about these tips. Id.

Soon, at 10:35 a.m., a juvenile-sounding male called 911 and made the first bomb threat to Oñate High School. Id. The police officer at the school had spoken to the two female students, who repeated everything to him. Stip.App. at 33. Because the officer viewed the shooting threats to be greater than the bomb threat, he told the principal to place the students under lock-down, so the students could not leave the school. Stip.App. at 35.

When his sergeant arrived, the officer told her that Christopher Armijo was the only suspect. Stip.App. at 36-37. The officer believed that (1) Oñate High School had recently expelled Mr. Armijo and he now attended Mayfield High School, (2) Mr. Armijo was an East Sider, and (3) no other student named Chris had recently transferred between those schools. Id.

At 11:00 a.m., a juvenile-sounding male made another bomb threat to Oñate High School. Stip.App. at 35-36. Like the prior call, this one was from a disconnected cell phone. Stip.App. at 35. All cell phones can call 911, even if their service is disconnected, but disconnected phones are harder to trace than functioning phones. Id. The officer thought that the person making the threat had seen that the students had not left the building, which frustrated the shooting, and that he was calling a second time to try again. Stip.App. at 36.

II. The Police Searched the House and Detained Mr. Armijo.

The officer then dispatched four other officers to Mr. Armijo's home, which they believed was a gang hangout. Stip.App. at 37. Ms. Armijo also lived there, although she was not at home. Stip.App. at 101, 103. Three officers knocked on the front door and yelled "Police Department. Anybody in here?," "Come to the door," and "Let yourself be known" as loudly as they could for two to three minutes. Stip.App. at 37-38. When no one answered, one officer then tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. Stip.App. at 38.

The officers radioed a sergeant at the school. Id. From her own knowledge, the sergeant believed Oñate High School had recently expelled Mr. Armijo, that he now attended Mayfield High School, that expelled students might be angry with the school, and that bomb threats generally were made by angry or problematic students. Stip.App. at 39-40. The sergeant thought Mr. Armijo was the only suspect and authorized entry. Stip.App. at 40.

The officers entered. Id. They searched the home for Mr. Armijo and anyone else within, in part to ensure officer safety. Stip.App. at 41. According to Mr. Armijo, he was sound asleep when the officers entered his bedroom. Stip.App. at 99. Two officers pointed their guns in his face, several yelled at him to get up, one or more pulled him out of bed, one handcuffed him, and one took him out on his porch in his underwear and T-shirt. Id.

While Mr. Armijo was on the porch, the officers searched the home for about five minutes. Id. They questioned him and requested his cell phone, which he provided. Stip.App. at 42. The officers checked the phone and the house's land line. Id. After discovering that neither phone called in the threats, they removed the handcuffs and left. Stip.App. at 42, 99. At most, the officers spent twenty minutes at the home. Stip.App. at 43, 58. When they left, the school was still under lock-down. Stip. App. at 43.

III. The District Court Denied the Officers Qualified Immunity.

The district court held in a brief order that an issue of material fact as to the reasonableness of the officers' conduct precluded summary judgment. Armijo v. Las Cruces Police Officers, No. 09-90 RHS/CEG, slip op. at 3 (D.N.M. Apr. 9, 2009) (Stip.App. at 123). The court did not discuss the factual disputes except one example: "evidence showing Defendants did not have objectively reasonable grounds to believe there was an immediate need to protect lives." Id. The officers appeal the denial of qualified immunity, and other district court decisions.¹ Stip.App. at 125-26.

Listing "the facts that the district court assumed when it denied summary judgment" is "`extremely helpful to a reviewing court.'" Johnson v. Jones, 515 U.S. 304, 319, 115 S.Ct. 2151, 132 L.Ed.2d 238 (1995) (citation omitted). When a district court does not list the material disputed facts, "a court of appeals may have to undertake a cumbersome review of the record to determine" those facts. Id. The better practice is to identify in some way the facts precluding qualified immunity.

Discussion

I. Jurisdiction

"A district court's denial of a claim of qualified immunity, to the extent that it turns on an issue of law, is an appealable `final decision' within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 1291 notwithstanding the absence of a final judgment." Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 530, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). Our jurisdiction is limited to "whether or not certain given facts showed a violation of `clearly established law.'" Johnson, 515 U.S. at 311, 115 S.Ct. 2151 (citation omitted). When a district court denies qualified immunity because of a factual dispute, "that finding is not jurisdictionally dispositive on appeal" if the defendants argue that immunity applies even under the plaintiff's version of the facts. Eidson v. Owens, 515 F.3d 1139, 1145 (10th Cir.2008). Relying on Ms. Armijo's version of the facts, we have jurisdiction to consider whether the Defendants have qualified immunity.

II. Qualified Immunity

We review de novo a district court's decision to deny a summary judgment motion that asserts qualified immunity. Eidson, 515 F.3d at 1145. The officers deserve summary judgment "if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c)(2).

Qualified immunity "protects governmental officials from liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate `clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.'" Pearson v. Callahan, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 129 S.Ct. 808, 815, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) (citation omitted). The qualified immunity inquiry has two elements: whether a constitutional violation occurred, and whether the violated right was "clearly established" at the time of the violation. Pearson, 129 S.Ct. at 815-16. We begin with the first element, whether the officers' entry, search, and detention violated the Fourth Amendment. Cf. Pearson, 129 S.Ct. at 818.

III. Exigent Circumstances Justified the Entry.

The Fourth Amendment provides that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." U.S. Const. amend IV. "Searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable." Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 586, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). "Warrants are generally required to search a person's home or his person unless `the exigencies of the situation' make the needs of law...