Taylor v. Meacham, 95-4008

• Decision Date: 07 May 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-4008,95-4008
• Citation: 82 F.3d 1556
• Parties: Dale TAYLOR, Plaintiff--Appellant, v. Lloyd MEACHAM and Uintah County, Defendants--Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1556

82 F.3d 1556

Dale TAYLOR, Plaintiff--Appellant, v. Lloyd MEACHAM and Uintah County, Defendants--Appellees.

No. 95-4008.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

May 7, 1996.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Utah (D.C. No. 93-CV-883); Bruce S. Jenkins, District Judge.

Gregory J. Sanders (Sandra L. Steinvoort with him on the briefs), Kipp and Christian, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert R. Wallace, Hanson, Epperson & Smith, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before PORFILIO, ANDERSON, and TACHA, Circuit Judges.

STEPHEN H. ANDERSON, Circuit Judge.

Dale Taylor brought this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Uintah County Sheriff Lloyd Meacham, in his individual and official capacities, claiming he--Mr. Taylor--was illegally arrested, charged with capital homicide in connection with a murder and rape which occurred twenty years previously, and jailed for seven weeks. When DNA tests led County authorities to drop the charges against Mr. Taylor, he was released from custody. Mr. Taylor included supplemental state claims for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and false imprisonment. The district court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set out below, we hold: (1) the Fourth Amendment governs a malicious prosecution claim brought under § 1983; (2) Sheriff Meacham had probable cause to seek and obtain an arrest warrant and, therefore, committed no Fourth Amendment violation; (3) any malicious prosecution claim against Sheriff Meacham based on events occurring after Mr. Taylor's arrest is vitiated, in this case, by the preliminary hearing and judicial determination to bind Mr. Taylor over for trial; and (4) because Sheriff Meacham committed no constitutional violation, the County is not liable. We therefor affirm the district court's decision.

BACKGROUND

On November 26, 1972, Gregory Nickells was shot and killed while sitting in his car with a female companion, Ranelle Stanger, at a remote overlook near the city of Vernal in Uintah County, Utah. Ms. Stanger, along with Mr. Nickells' body, was driven around for some time by the murderer and his companion. Ms. Stanger was raped by each man and eventually released. Mr. Nickells' car was set on fire, with his body inside.

Ms. Stanger gave a lengthy statement at the time of the murder and rape, describing the incident and the two perpetrators. Approximately one and one-half years later, in March 1974, a Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office detective met with Susan Dixon, Mr. Taylor's stepdaughter, who gave a statement implicating Mr. Taylor in the Nickells murder. Soon thereafter Ms. Dixon gave another statement to the detective and the Salt Lake County Attorney. However, no arrests were made and the case became inactive.

In 1990, defendant Lloyd Meacham was elected Sheriff of Uintah County. He reopened the Nickells murder case and conducted further investigation. He found the statement of Susan Dixon, reinterviewed her twice and reinterviewed Ms. Stanger twice. He eventually went to the Uintah County Attorney, Harry Souvall, with the evidence he had collected. Mr. Souvall authorized prosecution pursuant to Utah Code Ann. §§ 17-18-1(1)(b), (3)(b), and 77-2-1. Sheriff Meacham prepared an Affidavit of Probable Cause and executed it on August 11, 1992, before Judge A. Lynn Payne, who issued a warrant for Mr. Taylor's arrest. Mr. Taylor was arrested at his home in Salt Lake City on August 12, 1992, and charged with first degree murder. Pursuant to his wife's consent, Mr. Taylor's home and cars were searched.

On September 10 and 11, 1992, a preliminary hearing was conducted before Judge John R. Anderson. Mr. Taylor was represented by counsel. Both his stepdaughter, Susan Dixon, and Ms. Stanger testified, as well as other witnesses. The court found the evidence sufficient to establish probable cause and bound Mr. Taylor over for trial.

Subsequently, before Mr. Taylor was tried for the murder and rape, a pair of unlabeled women's pants were found in the evidence area of the Uintah County Sheriff's Department. No one, including Ms. Stanger, could positively identify them as belonging to Ms. Stanger. They were nonetheless sent to a crime lab for analysis, and the DNA results from evidence on the pants did not match Mr. Taylor's DNA. The prosecutor, Mr. Souvall, thereafter dropped the charges against Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor had been incarcerated in the Uintah County jail for seven weeks before he was released. This § 1983 action followed.

In his complaint, Mr. Taylor alleged that Sheriff Meacham's investigation and his decision to charge Mr. Taylor were "done with reckless disregard for the actual facts and included willful misstatements of fact and lies to individuals who were interviewed, to prosecutors, and to courts." Am. Compl. at p 14, Appellant's App. at 3. He further alleged that the arrest was "without probable cause and constitutes circumstances of wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution." Id. at p 15. He alleged that the above actions amounted to a denial of due process. He sued Sheriff Meacham in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as the "final policymaking authority" for Uintah County. Id. at pp 21-22, Appellant's App. at 6. He included supplemental state law causes of action for malicious prosecution, false imprisonment and false arrest. He sought actual damages, punitive damages and attorney's fees.

Sheriff Meacham filed motions for summary judgment, on the ground that he was qualifiedly immune from suit in his individual capacity and on the ground that he, in his official capacity, and Uintah County, were immune from suit because the allegedly unlawful actions taken against Mr. Taylor were not pursuant to a custom or policy, nor was Sheriff Meacham the final policy-making authority for either investigations or prosecutions. Mr. Taylor filed a cross-motion for partial summary judgment. The district court granted Sheriff Meacham's motions, both in his individual and his official capacities, and the motion of Uintah County, and denied Mr. Taylor's motion for partial summary judgment. ¹

DISCUSSION

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo. Pallottino v. City of Rio Rancho, 31 F.3d 1023, 1026 (10th Cir.1994). When a defendant asserts qualified immunity in a summary judgment context, "we apply special rules to determine whether the motion was properly granted or denied." Pino v. Higgs, 75 F.3d 1461, 1467 (10th Cir.1996). We must "first ask if a plaintiff has asserted the violation of a constitutional right at all, and then assess whether that right was clearly established at the time of a defendant's actions." Id. (quoting Gehl Group v. Koby, 63 F.3d 1528, 1533 (10th Cir.1995)); see Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 232, 111 S.Ct. 1789, 1793, 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991) ("A necessary concomitant to the determination of whether the constitutional right asserted by a plaintiff is 'clearly established' at the time the defendant acted is the determination of whether the plaintiff has asserted a violation of a constitutional right at all."). Thus, to avoid summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds, a plaintiff must " 'present facts which if true would constitute a violation of clearly established law.' " Pueblo Neighborhood Health Ctrs., Inc. v. Losavio, 847 F.2d 642, 646 (10th Cir.1988) (quoting Dominque v. Telb, 831 F.2d 673, 677 (6th Cir.1987)). " 'Whether an asserted federal right was clearly established at a particular time ... presents a question of law ... [that] must be resolved de novo on appeal.' " Romero v. Fay, 45 F.3d 1472 1475 (10th Cir.1995) (quoting Elder v. Holloway, --- U.S. ----, ----, 114 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 127 L.Ed.2d 344 (1994) (citation omitted)).

Mr. Taylor alleges that his wrongful arrest and seven-week detention constituted an unreasonable seizure and deprivation of his liberty, in violation of the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. In Albright v. Oliver, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 807, 127 L.Ed.2d 114 (1994), a plurality of the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment governed "pretrial deprivations of liberty." Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 813. Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process standards have no applicability. We therefore address Mr. Taylor's claim only in a Fourth Amendment context.

Mr. Taylor alleges wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution as the basis for his § 1983 claim. As the Supreme Court has observed, while there is " 'an embarrassing diversity of judicial opinion' " on the question of whether a malicious prosecution claim is actionable under § 1983, "[m]ost of the lower courts recognize some form of malicious prosecution action under § 1983." Albright, --- U.S. at ---- n. 4, 114 S.Ct. at 811 n. 4 (quoting Albright v. Oliver, 975 F.2d 343, 345 (7th Cir.1992), aff'd on other grounds, --- U.S. ----, 114 S.Ct. 807, 127 L.Ed.2d 114 (1994)). See Brummett v. Camble, 946 F.2d 1178, 1180-81 n. 2 (5th Cir.1991) (collecting cases on the question), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 965, 112 S.Ct. 2323, 119 L.Ed.2d 241 (1992). Our court has recognized the viability of malicious prosecution claims under § 1983, as well as claims for wrongful arrest. See Wolford v. Lasater, 78 F.3d 484 (10th Cir.1996); Romero, 45 F.3d 1472; Cottrell v. City of Kaysville, 994 F.2d 730 (10th Cir.1993); Anthony v. Baker, 955 F.2d 1395 (10th Cir.1992); Robinson v. Maruffi, 895 F.2d 649 (10th Cir.1990).

While most circuit courts recognize that a malicious prosecution claim is cognizable under § 1983, differences arise over the elements necessary to establish such a claim. Some courts hold that the "elements of liability for the constitutional tort of malicious prosecution under § 1983 coincide with those of the common law tort." Lee v. Mihalich, 847 F.2d 66, 70 (3d Cir.1988); see also Eugene v. Alief Indep. Sch. Dist., 65 F.3d 1299, 1303 (5th Cir.1995) ("This circuit has explicitly held...