Earle v. Benoit

• Decision Date: 09 October 1987
• Docket Number: No. 87-1167,87-1167
• Citation: 850 F.2d 836
• Parties: 26 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 231 James EARLE, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. Robert BENOIT, et al., Defendants, Appellees. . Heard
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Page 836

850 F.2d 836

26 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 231

James EARLE, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. Robert BENOIT, et al., Defendants, Appellees.

No. 87-1167.

United States Court of Appeals,

First Circuit.

Heard Oct. 9, 1987.

Decided June 29, 1988.

Joel Pentlarge with whom Walker & Pentlarge, Ware, Mass., and John Reinstein, Massachusetts Civ. Liberties Union Richard L. Zisson with whom Daniel R. Cox, Jr., Zisson and Veara and J. Richard Ratcliffe, Boston, Mass., were on brief, for defendants, appellees.

Boston, Mass., were on brief, for plaintiff, appellant.

Before CAMPBELL, Chief Judge, TORRUELLA and SELYA, Circuit Judges.

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff appeals from the district court's adverse judgment in his civil rights action against state police officers. Among the issues raised on appeal are when in a civil conspiracy case the judge may make a determination under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(E) that a declarant was not a member of a conspiracy. Compare Bourjaily v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 2775, 97 L.Ed.2d 144 (1987); United States v. Ciampaglia, 628 F.2d 632 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 956, 101 S.Ct. 365, 66 L.Ed.2d 221 (1980); United States v. Petrozziello, 548 F.2d 20 (1st Cir.1977).

I.

In 1980 and 1981, plaintiff James Earle was several times stopped, arrested, searched and charged with traffic and criminal violations by troopers of the Massachusetts State Police and by police officers from the town of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. He brought this district court action under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982) against three Massachusetts State Police Troopers, Robert Benoit, James Jaworek, and Phillip Rembiszewski ("the state troopers"), and three North Brookfield Police Officers, Chief Harbig Thomasian, Gerald St. John, and Peter Fullam ("the town officers"). He alleged that the defendants had conspired to deprive and did deprive him of his constitutional rights, over a period of about a year, by subjecting him to unlawful arrests and prosecutions, by interfering with his freedom of speech, by subjecting him to unreasonable searches and seizures, by assaulting and physically abusing him, and by repeatedly harassing him.

Prior to trial, the claims against the three town officers were settled. ¹ Trial ensued against the three state troopers.

Early in the trial, the district court granted defendants' pre-trial motion in limine to prevent Earle from presenting evidence and commenting thereon regarding plaintiff's claim that Trooper Benoit had charged or arrested him for violation of an allegedly unconstitutional by-law of the Town of North Brookfield. The court also granted a similar request to prevent the presenting of evidence regarding Earle's claim that Trooper Benoit had illegally arrested him for trespassing at the North Brookfield State Police barracks.

Plaintiff's first and principal witness was Earle himself, who testified, inter alia, to conversations he had had with Officer St. John and Chief Thomasian. During the first day of trial, midway through Earle's testimony, the court granted defendants' motion to strike all evidence as to statements made by the town officers. The court stated that Earle had not connected the town officers to a conspiracy with the defendant state troopers. At the conclusion of plaintiff's evidence, the court directed a verdict for all three defendants on the civil rights conspiracy count and for defendant Trooper Rembiszewski on all other counts against him. The jury later returned a verdict responding negatively to special questions inquiring whether the remaining defendants, Troopers Benoit and Jaworek, had violated Earle's civil rights when Benoit searched and arrested Earle on August 7, 1980, and when Jaworek stopped and searched Earle's vehicle on September 6, 1980.

Earle contends on appeal that the district court erred in excluding evidence of the town officers' statements and in directing a verdict in favor of the defendants on the civil rights conspiracy count. He further alleges error in the district court's rulings, made at the beginning of the case, excluding

all evidence relating to plaintiff's claim that Trooper Benoit violated his civil rights by bringing charges against him for violating a town by-law and by arresting him for trespassing at the State Police barracks.

II.

Earle testified to a series of incidents which, he contends, sufficed to establish that defendants conspired to deprive him of his civil rights. ² The first incident, and the one that plaintiff argues triggered the chain of events about which he is here complaining, took place in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, late in the evening of August 7, 1980. Approximately a dozen young people gathered along the sidewalk and common on Main Street. Trooper Benoit, of the State Police, approached the group and began searching one of the members of the group, a young woman named Kathy Baldyga. She had a leather pouch hanging from her belt. Trooper Benoit searched the pouch and found a marijuana pipe. At this time Earle, who was walking down the street with his dog, observed Benoit's search of Baldyga. Earle told Benoit that he should not be searching a woman, that a female officer should be called to make such a search. Benoit thereupon approached Earle, tapped his pocket and felt something in it. Reaching into Earle's pocket, Benoit pulled out a cigarette lighter and a plastic bag containing marijuana. Earle was immediately placed under arrest for possession of marijuana and handcuffed. Officer Gerald St. John, of the town police, arrived on the scene at this time. After searching the other members of the group, Trooper Benoit took Earle to the Brookfield State Police barracks. In the barracks Earle repeatedly refused to give his name to the police. Earle testified that in the process of interrogating him, Benoit grabbed him by the hair, dragged him from the interrogation room to a cell, and threw him on the floor. Later that night Benoit allegedly conducted a strip search of Earle.

Concerned about the previous night's incidents, Earle went the next day to see Officer St. John, the local officer who had backed up Trooper Benoit the previous evening. Instead of talking about the preceding night's incident, St. John and Earle had an argument about a different incident. St. John told Earle that the tires of his (St. John's) car had been slashed and that he wanted Earle to help him find the culprit. Earle responded that he did not know who had slashed the tires and that he was not going to help him find out who did it. St. John gave Earle two days to find out who slashed the tires and threatened to bring Trooper Benoit to the town every night until St. John found out who slashed the tires.

The following night, August 9, around 11:30 p.m., Earle was stopped by Trooper Benoit. Earle was giving two girls a ride home from a party. One Michael Fortin was with them in the car. Earle stopped in a parking lot to drop off the two girls when Benoit approached Earle's van. After inspecting Earle's driver's license and car registration, Benoit ordered Earle to get out of the van. Earle refused to do so. Michael Fortin, the other passenger, also refused to get out of the van. Shortly thereafter Officer Fullam, of the town police, arrived. Upon Fullam's request, Fortin finally got out of the van. Benoit asked the two girls, who were under 18, if they had been drinking. ³ They answered "no," and he let them go home. Benoit ordered Fortin, who admitted to having been drinking Early on the evening of September 6, 1980, Trooper James Jaworek of the State Police stopped plaintiff for driving without headlights. While writing up a ticket, Jaworek allegedly smelled marijuana inside the van. He searched the van and found a nightstick and a bag containing marijuana. Earle was placed under arrest. Plaintiff alleges that inside the trooper's cruiser he observed a clipboard with a piece of paper with his name on it, a description of his van, and a note stating that Earle had stolen Benoit's police hat.

to go directly to his home. Benoit threatened to bring charges against Earle if he ever found that Earle had purchased alcohol for the girls. Trooper Benoit and Officer Fullam left without searching or arresting Earle.

Earle was followed by Benoit on two separate occasions on September 7, 1980. He was neither stopped nor arrested. On September 21, 1980, Officer Fullam brought charges of disturbing the peace against plaintiff because the latter refused to set up a bicycle rack that was knocked over by a third person. The next day Earle was arrested by Officer St. John for unlawful assembly because he refused to dissolve a group that was standing in front of the Town Hall.

On four other occasions Benoit stopped plaintiff because of alleged traffic violations. On September 4, 1980, Trooper Benoit gave plaintiff a bald tire ticket. Plaintiff testified that all of his tires were in good condition and that Benoit did not examine any of his tires before writing up the ticket because a fellow officer told him that Earle's van had a bald tire. On another occasion Benoit stopped Earle because he was driving with a defective muffler. Earle admitted that he was driving with an excessively loud exhaust system. While Benoit was writing up a repair ticket, an unknown state trooper arrived at the scene. This unknown trooper alleged that he smelled marijuana inside the van, and conducted a search. Nothing illegal was found inside the van. Earle was not arrested or charged with any crime.

Plaintiff had three conversations with Harbig Thomasian, the Police Chief of the Town of North Brookfield. Approximately a week after the first incident, Earle complained to Thomasian about the problems he was having with the police. Chief Thomasian first accused Earle of being a drug dealer, but went on to say that it was Earle's "big mouth" that got him in trouble and that the police would appreciate any cooperation he...