France v. Lucas

• Decision Date: 07 September 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15-3593,15-3593
• Citation: 836 F.3d 612
• Parties: Geneva France ; Lowestco Ballard, Plaintiffs–Appellants, v. Lee Lucas, et al., Defendants, Charles Metcalf; Matt Mayer; Larry Faith; J. Steve Sheldon; Richland County, Ohio ; Estate of Jerrell Bray, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

836 F.3d 612

Geneva France ; Lowestco Ballard, Plaintiffs–Appellants,

v. Lee Lucas, et al., Defendants,Charles Metcalf; Matt Mayer; Larry Faith; J. Steve Sheldon; Richland County, Ohio ; Estate of Jerrell Bray, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 15-3593

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 28, 2016

Decided and Filed: September 7, 2016

Rehearing En Banc Denied November 15, 2016

ARGUED: Charles A. Koenig, KOENIG & LONG, LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. Daniel T. Downey, FISHEL HASS KIM ALBRECHT LLP, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees Faith, Mayer, Sheldon, and Richland County. Michael M. Heimlich, Delaware, Ohio, for Appellee Metcalf. ON BRIEF: Charles A. Koenig, Todd A. Long, KOENIG & LONG, LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. Daniel T. Downey, Paul M. Bernhart, FISHEL HASS KIM ALBRECHT LLP, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees Faith, Mayer, Sheldon, and Richland County. Michael M. Heimlich, Delaware, Ohio, for Appellee Metcalf.

Before: NORRIS, McKEAGUE, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.

McKEAGUE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which NORRIS, J., joined, and WHITE, J., joined in part. WHITE, J. (pp. 632–43), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.

OPINION

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-appellants Lowestco Ballard and Geneva France were framed during Operation Turnaround, a corrupt investigation into the Mansfield, Ohio drug trade by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Richland County Sheriff's Office (RCSO). The federal government prosecuted Ballard and France for allegedly selling drugs to law-enforcement officials and confidential informant Jerrell Bray. After Operation Turnaround ended, however, Bray admitted that he used his friends to act as “stand-ins” for the drug buys and intentionally misidentified them to frame Ballard and France. Ballard and France then sued Bray, DEA Special Agent Lee Lucas, and the defendants-appellees, RCSO officers Charles Metcalf, Matthew Mayer, Larry Faith, and Steven Sheldon, as well as the County of Richland, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for numerous claims, including malicious prosecution and fabrication of evidence.

The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants. Ballard and France appeal that decision, arguing that we should infer from the evidence that the RCSO officers knew Bray was using stand-ins to frame them and at times even assisted him in doing so. But Ballard and France have failed to produce evidence showing that the officers personally violated their constitutional rights. In addition, the officers relied on eyewitness identifications of Ballard and France by Special Agent Lucas and indictments from a federal grand jury for probable cause, and Ballard and France have failed to show a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the defendants should have doubted that there was probable cause. For the reasons set forth below, we AFFIRM the district court.

I. Background

A. Operation Turnaround

Lowestco Ballard and Geneva France were separately arrested and charged as part of “Operation Turnaround,” an investigation into the Mansfield, Ohio drug trade launched by the Richland County Sheriff's Office and later joined by the DEA. This case one in a series of lawsuits brought by individuals who were targeted during Operation Turnaround. See Webb v. United States , 789 F.3d 647, 652 (6th Cir. 2015) ; Robertson v. Lucas , 753 F.3d 606, 610 (6th Cir. 2014).¹ Webb is particularly relevant because it involved the same controlled buy that led to the prosecution of Geneva France.

RCSO launched Operation Turnaround after the death of Timothy Harris in December 2004, believing Harris's death to be drug related. As part of the investigation, RCSO recruited Jerrell Bray as a confidential informant to make controlled buys from suspected drug traffickers in Richland County.

In August 2005, the DEA joined Operation Turnaround and DEA Special Agents, including Special Agent Lee Lucas, registered Bray as a DEA informant. Bray had previously made several buys for RCSO, and he had also supplied Lucas with reliable information in a separate DEA drug investigation in Cleveland, Ohio. Controlled buys proceeded as follows:

Bray and the RCSO officers would identify a target and inform the DEA agents, who would supply the buy money and travel from Cleveland to assist. Bray would place a phone call to the target. Investigators would search Bray and his vehicle before the buy and follow Bray to the location of the buy, attempting to view or record the transaction when possible. After the buy, they would follow Bray back to the sheriff's office, search Bray's person and vehicle, and take a statement from Bray.

Webb , 789 F.3d at 652 (quoting Mott , 524 Fed.Appx. at 181 ).

Bray worked with several RCSO officers, including Detective Charles Metcalf; his supervisor, Sergeant Matthew Mayer; and their supervisor, the head of the detective bureau, Captain Larry Faith. Faith was supervised by non-defendant Major Reeves, who was supervised by Sheriff Steve Sheldon. As a result of Bray's controlled buys, law enforcement arrested and prosecuted over two dozen individuals, including Ballard and France.

B. Facts Specific to Lowestco Ballard

Controlled Buy. The controlled buy that led to the arrest and prosecution of Lowestco Ballard took place on September 9, 2005, at Eastgate Apartments. Ballard asserts that Bray purchased crack from Darren Transou (a stand-in), but intentionally misidentified him as Ballard.

According to DEA Special Agent Lucas's official report, Bray met with Lucas and Detective Metcalf and made a number of calls to Ballard to set up the deal. Bray's phone records show that he never called the number listed in Lucas's report. Bray instead called Transou, who needed directions to Eastgate Apartments and at one point referred to “West” (for “Lowestco Ballard”) in the third person. Detective Metcalf monitored these calls. Sergeant Mayer accompanied Special Agent Lucas in a pick-up truck and provided video surveillance while Bray purchased drugs from Transou.

Transou drove a green Ford Bronco to the September 9 drug buy used to frame Ballard. This is relevant because two days before the buy, on September 7, a state trooper had stopped Transou while he was driving a green Bronco to Detroit to buy drugs. Bray and law enforcement set up this September 7 stop to target Noel Mott and Arrico Spires. Bray had told law enforcement he was following Mott and Spires in a separate vehicle, while Sergeant Mayer was following Bray. Yet when the state trooper stopped the Bronco, he found Transou and Crystal Dillard, rather than Mott and Spires, inside it. The trooper called Metcalf, who was at the police station monitoring the GPS, to tell him Transou was in the green Bronco. The trooper then let Transou go. Ballard points to the September 7 incident as evidence that the green Bronco was a tip-off to officers that Transou, not Ballard, was taking part in the September 9 controlled buy.

Ballard's Prosecution. Special Agent Lucas testified before a federal grand jury that Ballard sold drugs to Bray on September 9. Ballard was indicted on criminal drug charges and arrested pursuant to a warrant from a United States Magistrate Judge. At trial, Special Agent Lucas was shown Transou's picture but testified that it was Ballard—not Transou—who sold Bray drugs on September 9. The jury acquitted Ballard and he was released after spending almost a year in pretrial detention.

C. Facts Specific to Geneva France

Controlled Buy. The controlled buy that led to Geneva France's arrest took place on October 25, 2005, and is also detailed in our opinion in Webb , 789 F.3d at 654–56. France was not the initial target of this buy, as Bray had told law-enforcement officers he could set up a buy with “Ronald Davis.” “Ronald Davis” was an alias used by Herman Price, who had paid his brother-in-law, the actual Ronald Davis, to use Davis's name, birth certificate, and Social Security card. See Webb , 789 F.3d at 654–55.

Special Agent Lucas and Detective Metcalf recorded and monitored two telephone calls Bray made to Price to set up the controlled buy. At France's trial, Lucas testified that he “dialed the numbers.” According to Lucas's DEA report, at 2:05 p.m. Bray made the first call and spoke to a woman known as “Lil S” to discuss purchasing crack cocaine. During the call, Bray and “Lil S” made plans to meet at 121 Glessner Avenue. In truth, Bray called his girlfriend's cell phone and spoke with his girlfriend, who said she would send “her girl.” Lucas's report then noted that Bray made a second call to Price (posing as Ronald Davis) to discuss purchasing crack cocaine, and the two planned to meet at 187 South Adams Street. The audio recording reveals that Bray and Price never discussed a drug purchase.

After these calls, Faith and Metcalf drove to Price's home at 121 Glessner Avenue. According to Lucas's report and an affidavit Faith would submit for a search warrant of Price's home, Metcalf and Faith observed Price leave his home and followed him to 187 South Adams Street. Faith would later admit that he and Metcalf never followed Price to South Adams Street. In the meantime, Lucas and Bray drove to 187 South Adams Street for Bray to meet Price. Inside the house, Bray asked to buy drugs from Price. Price responded “I definitely can get it” and told Bray that he would call him with a price for the drugs.

After returning to the vehicle, Bray told Lucas they needed to go back to Glessner Avenue to buy drugs from “Price's girl.” Lucas agreed, even though the audio recording shows that Bray and Price never made any agreement for Bray to buy drugs from “Price's girl.”

At approximately 2:20 p.m., Bray and Lucas picked up Karmiya “Shea Shea” Moxley, whom Bray would falsely identify as Geneva France. Moxley identified herself as “Lil S,” the woman Bray had supposedly spoken to earlier to set up the buy. Bray told Moxley that Price had asked him to pay her for the drugs. Lucas, who...