Myers v. Morris
| Decision Date | 09 April 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-5243,85-5243 |
| Citation | 810 F.2d 1437 |
| Parties | Greg MYERS, etc., et al., Appellees, v. R. Kathleen MORRIS, Scott County Attorney, etc., et al., Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Douglas J. Muirhead, Minneapolis, Minn., for Price, De Vries and Phipps-Yonas & Price, P.A.
Earl P. Gray, St. Paul, Minn., for Robert and Lois Bentz.
Thomas J. Hunziker, Minneapolis, Minn., for Charles and Carol Lallak.
Michael D. Madigan, Minneapolis, Minn., for Jeffrey and Jennifer Lallak.
Robert A. Nicklaus, Chaska, Minn., for Rawson.
Marc G. Kurzman, Minneapolis, Minn., for Greg and Jane Myers and Donald and Cindy Buchan.
James W. Kenney, St. Paul, Minn., for Michael Shea and Michael Shea & Assoc.
Phillip A. Cole, Minneapolis, Minn., for Thomsen.
Robert H. Lynn, Minneapolis, Minn., for Norring.
John M. Degnan, Minneapolis, Minn., for Johnson and Manahan.
Before ROSS, Circuit Judge, FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.
Before us are the consolidated appeals in eight civil rights lawsuits which grew out of a child sexual abuse investigation in Jordan, Minnesota, during 1983-84. Thirteen of the fifteen plaintiffs in these cases were charged by Scott County Attorney, R. Kathleen Morris, with criminal sexual activity involving one or more minor children.
The investigation began in September 1983 with the arrest of James Rud, a person One criminal case involving two of the plaintiffs in these appeals went to trial, and the County lost. Upon the acquittal of these plaintiffs, the advice of therapists and guardians that testifying at additional trials would be against the best interests of the juvenile witnesses and the development of an investigation into alleged homicides, the county attorney dismissed all pending charges against the plaintiffs and others. The plaintiffs then filed these civil rights lawsuits against Morris and various other defendants.
who later entered a plea of guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse. Thirteen of the plaintiffs in these cases were arrested and charged between January 11, 1984, and June 4, 1984. Where minor children were residing in the home, they were removed on temporary police holds after a parent's arrest and subsequently placed in foster care. The two plaintiffs who were never charged nevertheless lost temporary custody of their children.
The appeals are from a decision by the district court 1 to deny certain motions for summary judgment and to grant others. All of the defendants, including many who are not before us in these appeals, moved for summary judgment in the district court on the basis of absolute and qualified immunity from suit and other grounds. The district court denied the motions submitted by (1) Scott County Attorney R. Kathleen Morris; (2) Scott County Sheriff Douglas Tietz; (3) four of the sheriff's deputies, Michael Busch, Patrick Morgan, Norm Pint and David Einertson, and (4) a therapist, Susan DeVries. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of (1) Jordan police officer Larry Norring; (2) guardians ad litem Diane Johnson, John Manahan and Paul Thomsen; (3) therapists Thomas Price and Phipps-Yonas & Price, P.A., Michael Shea, Leslie Faricy and Shea & Associates, P.A., and (4) a court-appointed attorney, Wright Walling.
The orders entering summary judgment in favor of the police officer, guardians ad litem, certain therapists and a court-appointed attorney were certified for review under FED.R.CIV.P. 54(b). The appeals by the prosecutor, sheriff, sheriff's deputies and a therapist contesting the denial of their motions for summary judgment are appealable on the basis of the limited exception created in Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 2815, 2816, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985), for denials of motions for summary judgment asserting immunity defenses. See Wright v. South Arkansas Regional Health Center, Inc., 800 F.2d 199, 202-03 (8th Cir.1986); White v. Pierce County, 797 F.2d 812, 814 (9th Cir.1986).
The plaintiffs in these cases came to the attention of law enforcement personnel in the following sequence of events. On September 26, 1983, Chris Brown 2 reported to Larry Norring of the Jordan, Minnesota police department that James Rud, a resident of the Valley Green trailer park in Jordan, Minnesota, had been sexually abusing her daughter, S. Krahl. Then Judy Kath 3 made a complaint concerning Rud's abuse of her daughter, V. Kath. Norring performed a warrantless arrest of Rud on September 26, 1983. Criminal charges were soon brought, and as the investigation continued, additional criminal complaints were filed against Rud, ultimately totalling 108 counts of sexual abuse involving many children. He eventually entered a guilty plea and is serving a term of imprisonment.
After Rud had been arrested and charged and child victims were being questioned, other child victims of Rud were identified and acts of sexual abuse by other adults were described. The magnitude of the job of questioning Rud victims soon exceeded the capacity of the small Jordan police department. By October 1, 1983, Jordan police chief Alvin Erickson requested investigative assistance from the Minnesota Norring and three BCA officers interviewed children until in early November 1983, the Scott County sheriff's department entered the investigation and the BCA withdrew. Norring was assigned to assist in the investigation, and he maintained investigative contact with S. Krahl and her brother, J. Krahl, and V. Kath (all Rud victims). By the end of November 1983, eight persons had been formally charged including Chris Brown, Judy Kath and Robert Rawson. (Robert Rawson was implicated by two Rud victims as a person who had sexually abused them.) 4
Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
In interviews with Larry Norring on January 10 and 11, 1984, S. Krahl, J. Krahl and V. Kath described acts of sexual abuse by plaintiffs Tom and Helen Brown. Investigation by law enforcement personnel into James Rud charges was still in progress as of this date. Deputy sheriff Michael Busch swore out criminal complaints incorporating Norring's report of these interviews, on the basis of which Busch obtained arrest warrants. Tom and Helen Brown were arrested on January 11, 1984, by Norring, Busch and deputy sheriff Patrick Morgan. Two minor children, J. Brown and B. Brown, were removed from the home on January 11, 1984.
In interviews with detectives Busch and Morgan on January 12, 13, and 20, 1984, S. Krahl and J. Brown described acts of abuse by plaintiffs Robert and Lois Bentz. Morgan swore out criminal complaints on the basis of these statements and obtained arrest warrants. Robert and Lois Bentz were arrested on January 20, 1984, and their three minor children were removed from the home on that date. The Bentz children were not questioned until after their parents had been arrested. 5
Another Rud victim, K. Fossen, implicated plaintiff Greg Myers as did J. Brown and B. Brown. These children described acts of abuse by Myers during interviews on February 6, 1984, with detectives Busch and Morgan. Busch and Morgan performed a warrantless arrest of Greg Myers on February 6, 1984, and deputy sheriffs Norm Pint and David Menden were assigned by deputy sheriff David Einertson to remove three minor children from the Myers' home. Busch swore out a criminal complaint against Greg Myers on February 8, 1984. The two older Myers children were not questioned until after Greg Myers' arrest. The youngest, aged two, was not questioned.
By March 1984, V. Kath (one of the two Rud victims who had previously described sexual abuse upon themselves by Robert Rawson) also stated that Robert Rawson had been abusing his daughter S. Rawson. On March 22, 1984, detectives Busch and Morgan removed S. Rawson from her home over the protests of her mother, plaintiff Coralene Rawson. Within four days a neglect petition was filed based upon statements by S. Rawson to the sheriff's deputies after she had been removed from her home. On March 31, 1984, plaintiff Coralene Rawson was arrested and charged with sexually abusing S. Rawson.
In interviews with detectives Busch and Pint on May 5, 15, and 22, 1984, the two older Myers children implicated plaintiff Jane Myers (their mother) and plaintiffs Charles and Carol Lallak and Duane and Dee Rank. On May 23, 1984, Busch swore out criminal complaints and obtained warrants for the arrest of Jane Myers, the Lallaks and the Ranks, and, with detective Pint, arrested the Lallaks and Ranks. Jane Myers presented herself at the Scott County jail. The Myers children had previously been removed from the home upon the arrest of Greg Myers. The Ranks had no minor children, and the Lallaks' children had been living with relatives outside of Donald and Cindy Buchan had sought examination by a physician and interviews with deputy sheriffs for their daughter, M. Buchan, after Greg Myers' arrest. M. Buchan was a close friend of the Myers' daughter, and the Myers had babysat for the Buchan children. Through May 1984, M. Buchan reported no abuse. On May 30, 1984, however, Morris was engaged in trial preparation with the Myers' daughter, A. Myers. A. Myers stated that M. Buchan was her friend and that persons who had hurt M. Buchan were A. Myers' parents and M. Buchan's father (but not mother).
Jordan since shortly after Greg Myers' arrest.
Because Donald Buchan was a Scott County deputy sheriff, the BCA rather than the sheriff's office investigated. On June 4, 1984, Special Agent Patrick Shannon of the BCA participated in interviews with the two older Myers children and M. Buchan, all of whom implicated plaintiffs Donald and Cindy Buchan in acts of sexual abuse. Agent Shannon performed a warrantless...
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