Winslow v. Smith
| Decision Date | 15 October 2012 |
| Docket Number | 11–2883,Nos. 11–2882,11–2884,11–2903.,s. 11–2882 |
| Citation | 696 F.3d 716 |
| Parties | Thomas W. WINSLOW, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Richard T. SMITH, in his official and individual capacities; Burdette Searcey, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Gerald Lamkin, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Jerry O. Dewitt, Sheriff, in his official and individual capacities; Wayne R. Price, PhD., in his official and individual capacities; Gage County Attorney's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; Gage County Sheriff's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; County of Gage, Nebraska, a Nebraska political subdivision, Defendants–Appellees. James L. Dean, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Richard T. Smith, in his official and individual capacities; Burdette Searcey, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Gerald Lamkin, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Jerry O. Dewitt, Sheriff, in his official and individual capacities; Wayne R. Price, PhD., in his official and individual capacities; Gage County Attorney's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; Gage County Sheriff's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; County of Gage, Nebraska, a Nebraska political subdivision, Defendants–Appellees. Kathleen A. Gonzalez, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Richard T. Smith, in his official and individual capacities; Burdette Searcey, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Gerald Lamkin, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Jerry O. Dewitt, Sheriff, in his official and individual capacities; Wayne R. Price, PhD., in his official and individual capacities; Gage County Attorney's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; Gage County Sheriff's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; County of Gage, Nebraska, a Nebraska political subdivision, Defendants–Appellees. Ada Joann Taylor, Plaintiff–Appellant v. Richard T. Smith, in his official and individual capacities; Burdette Searcey, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Gerald Lamkin, Dep., in his official and individual capacities; Jerry O. Dewitt, Sheriff, in his official and individual capacities; Wayne R. Price, PhD., in his official and individual capacities; Gage County Attorney's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; Gage County Sheriff's Office, a Nebraska political subdivision; County of Gage, Nebraska, a Nebraska political subdivision, Defendants–Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Herbert J. Friedman, Jeffry D. Patterson, argued, Lincoln, NE, Robert F. Bartle, Lincoln, NE, Douglas J. Stratton, Norfolk, NE, on the brief, for appellant.
Patrick T. O'Brien, argued, Richard L. Boucher, Paul L. Douglas, Jennifer M. Tomka, on the brief, Lincoln, NE, for appellees.
Before MURPHY, BENTON, and SHEPHERD, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs Ada Joann Taylor, Thomas Winslow, James Dean, and Kathleen Gonzalez (collectively “Plaintiffs”) were convicted in 1989 for participating in the 1985 rape and murder of Helen Wilson in Beatrice, Nebraska. However, in 2008, DNA testing established that the semen and type B blood found in Wilson's apartment were from Bruce Allen Smith, an individual who had no connection to Plaintiffs. After receiving full pardons from the Nebraska Pardons Board, Plaintiffs individually filed causes of action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the county prosecutor and members of the sheriff's department (collectively “Defendants”) who investigated the Wilson murder and against Gage County, Nebraska. As the basis of their lawsuit, Plaintiffs contend Defendants violated their rights to due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments by recklessly investigating the Wilson murder and by coercing Plaintiffs to plead guilty. At the conclusion of discovery, the district court granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment based on qualified and absolute immunity, dismissing Plaintiffs' claims. Plaintiffs appeal, arguing the district court erred in its evidentiary rulings and in granting Defendants' motions for summary judgment.
Applying de novo review, we conclude that the district court erred by failing to grant all reasonable inferences to Plaintiffs and that the evidence is sufficient to support Plaintiffs' claims that their rights to fair criminal proceedings were violated as the result of a reckless investigation and Defendants' manufacturing of false evidence. The district court did not err, however, in its determination that there was insufficient evidence to support Plaintiffs' claims that their guilty pleas were unconstitutionally coerced. Additionally, the court did not err in granting absolute immunity to the county prosecutor. We thus affirm in part and reverse in part.
Helen Wilson's body was discovered in her apartment in Beatrice, Nebraska, on February 6, 1985. She had been raped and murdered. The Beatrice Police Department (“BPD”) took the lead in opening an investigation into the murder. The BPD failed to charge anyone in the case, and the case remained unsolved.
Burdette Searcey was employed as an investigator with BPD from 1977 to 1982, but by 1985 he had left the force and was working as a farmer. After securing the permission of Wilson's daughter, Searcey began his own independent investigation into the Wilson murder. Searcey interviewed a number of former confidential informants who assisted him in identifying several persons who frequented the area where the Wilson homicide occurred. At that time, Searcey identified Joseph White, Thomas Winslow, Joann Taylor, Cliff Shelden, Mark Goodson, Beth Johnson, Deb Shelden, and Charlotte Bishop as persons of interest. Searcey believed that the Wilson murder had been committed by multiple persons, including White, Taylor, and Winslow.
In 1987, Jerry DeWitt became sheriff of Gage County and hired Searcey as a deputy sheriff. DeWitt and Richard Smith, who was the Gage County attorney, held a series of meetings concerning Searcey's previous investigative efforts. In January 1989, DeWitt and Smith gave Searcey permission to commence an official investigation into the Wilson murder. Gage County sheriff's deputies Gerald Lamkin and Wayne Price assisted in the investigation.
Lisa Podendorf was Searcey's lead witness. Podendorf claimed that on February 6, 1985, Taylor confessed to Podendorf that Taylor, along with Joseph White, murdered Wilson. Podendorf repeated this account in her recorded statement with Searcey in January 1989. Podendorf also claimed in the interview that she saw Taylor, Winslow, White, and Johnson get out of a car near Wilson's apartment on the night of Wilson's murder. Podendorf indicated that Taylor's confession came at 7:30 a.m., as Taylor and Podendorf observed several police cars at the apartment complex where Wilson's body was found. Searcey was aware that Wilson's body was not discovered until approximately 9:00 a.m., and apparently chose to overlook this discrepancy in Podendorf's testimony.1
Searcey interviewed Winslow on February 13, 1989, while Winslow was in custody for an unrelated felony assault charge. Searcey had previously interviewed Winslow during the course of his private investigation in 1985. In 1985, Winslow told Searcey that he was at work on the night of the Wilson murder. Searcey found this alibi was false because Winslow's supervisor indicated that Winslow had not come in to work on February 5, 1985. During the 1989 interview when Searcey confronted Winslow with his previous alibi, Winslow admitted he skipped work on the night of the Wilson murder. Although he continued to deny any involvement in the murder, Winslow told Searcey he had loaned his car to Taylor, White, and Cliff Shelden on the night of the Wilson murder. Winslow claims he made this statement to Searcey after “Searcey had convinced me that my car was involved in the area.” Winslow also claims he named Taylor and White because Searcey mentioned them before Searcey began recording the interview. Searcey's February 28, 1989 report of his interview with Winslow recounts Winslow's statement that he loaned his car to Taylor and White but omits mention of Cliff Shelden. Searcey had spoken to Cliff in 1985 and had accepted Cliff's alibi that he was in the hospital on February 5, 1985.
On February 25, 1989, Searcey interviewed Charlotte Bishop. Bishop stated that on the morning after the Wilson murder Taylor admitted that she was involved but did not name any other parties. The transcript of Bishop's interview indicates that her recollection of events was very poor; for example, she could not remember the month in which the Wilson murder occurred. After Searcey asked Bishop whether she remembered seeing police at the scene of the crime, Bishop indicated she saw police at Wilson's apartment complex on the night the murder occurred. As with Podendorf, Bishop's recollection of when police arrived was in error.
On March 14, 1989, Searcey finalized a sworn affidavit for an arrest warrant for Taylor and White. That same day, Searcey, DeWitt, and Smith traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, to take a statement from Winslow that had been prearranged by Winslow's counsel. Winslow believed that providing Searcey with the statement would help him in his unrelated assault case, because Searcey told Winslow he would persuade the judge to release Winslow on a PR bond.
In his initial statement, Winslow claimed that on the night of February 5, 1985, he, Taylor, and White drove Winslow's car around Beatrice. Winslow recounted that during their drive, Taylor and White discussed robbing an old lady. Winslow said that Taylor and White dropped him off at Bishop's apartment and returned his car to his apartment the following morning. Searcey then informed Winslow that Winslow had been seen getting out of his car along with Taylor, White, and Johnson at the apartment building where the homicide took place. Winslow agreed that this was true and that he had failed to mention it because he did not...
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