Gill v. City of Milwaukee, 16-2846

• Citation: 850 F.3d 335
• Decision Date: 07 March 2017
• Docket Number: No. 16-2846,16-2846
• Parties: Eddie GILL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF MILWAUKEE, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit)

850 F.3d 335

Eddie GILL, Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.CITY OF MILWAUKEE, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 16-2846

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued January 11, 2017

Decided March 7, 2017

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied April 19, 2017

John A. Birdsall, Attorney, Birdsall Law Offices, S.C., Milwaukee, WI, Drew De Vinney, Kevin R. Martin, Attorneys, Martin Law Office, S.C., Oak Creek, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Jan A. Smokowicz, Attorney, Milwaukee City Attorney's Office, Milwaukee, WI, for Defendants-Appellees.

Before Bauer, Flaum, and Easterbrook, Circuit Judges.

Bauer, Circuit Judge.

In February 2013, Eddie Gill confessed to and was charged with the murder of Jordin Crawley. Gill spent just over a year in jail awaiting trial. The charges were dropped, however, after a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge suppressed Gill's confession. Gill then filed a series of federal and state law claims in federal district court against the City of Milwaukee, Chief of Police Edward Flynn, and six Milwaukee police detectives. The district court entered judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c) in favor of Defendants on all of Gill's federal claims and dismissed the state law claims without prejudice. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

On February 3, 2013, Jordin Crawley was shot and killed while standing in a crowd outside a club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just after it had closed for the night. Gill exited the club as it was closing and crossed the street to greet a group of friends that he saw at a gas station. After a couple minutes, Gill and the group walked back towards the crowd of people outside the club. Just then, multiple gunshots were fired, killing Crawley and wounding another man.

In the days that followed the shooting, Milwaukee Police detectives collected security video footage from the area and interviewed approximately 20 witnesses. One of the witnesses identified Gill from the video footage of the gas station parking lot. Detective Mark Peterson spoke with Gill on the phone and spoke with his mother in person. Gill's mother explained to Peterson that Gill had cognitive impairments. At approximately 7:30 p.m. on February 12, 2013, Gill voluntarily came to the police station to be interviewed.

Detectives Timothy Graham and Erik Gulbrandson conducted the initial interview. Gill's complaint states that the detectives knew of Gill's intellectual disability prior to the interview, and that it was also apparent through his behavior and answers. During the interview, Gill made multiple statements that were disproved by the video footage, including the number of people he was with and where he was standing when the shooting occurred. Based on those statements, the detectives arrested Gill for obstruction and immediately read Gill his Miranda rights. Gill requested a lawyer, and the detectives ended the interview.

As the detectives transported him to booking, Gill said that he wanted to take a polygraph test and that he wished to waive his right to a lawyer in order to do so. The next morning, Detective James Hensley retrieved Gill from his cell to take the polygraph test. Hensley reiterated that Gill could not take the polygraph without a lawyer present, unless he was willing to waive his right to a lawyer. Gill's complaint states that he interpreted this to mean either that he could take a polygraph without a lawyer or that he could not take one at all. Still, Gill stated that he understood his Miranda rights and chose to proceed with the polygraph without a lawyer present. He denied any involvement with the shooting during the examination, which lasted over six hours.

After the polygraph, Detectives Hensley and Billy Ball took Gill to another room and continued interrogating him. The detectives again read Gill his Miranda rights, which he waived. Throughout this interrogation, which lasted five more hours, Gill continued to maintain his innocence.

The next morning, February 14, 2013, Hensley began interrogating Gill once again. Gill initially stated that he wanted a lawyer, but Hensley convinced him to waive his rights and continue with the interrogation. Hensley employed several interrogation techniques, including social isolation, confrontation, theme development, and minimization. He also falsely stated that Gill had been identified as the shooter by an eyewitness, and that Gill had failed his polygraph test. During the course of this interrogation, Gill professed his innocence more than 140 times, but eventually confessed to the shooting. He was charged with first degree reckless homicide and remained in jail.

Gill filed a motion to suppress his confession, which the trial court granted on February 24, 2014. The court specifically noted that Gill was "functionally illiterate," that he had previously been found incompetent to stand trial for a different crime, and that his mother had advised Hensley of his intellectual disability. In light of those facts and the "stressful" interrogations, the court held that his confession was involuntary and inadmissible. As a result, the charges were dismissed on March 13, 2014.

Gill then filed this case in the district court, bringing federal claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as supplemental state law claims. He brought claims against each of the individual detectives for violations of his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, a claim for false arrest, and a claim for concealment of favorable evidence. He also brought claims for conspiracy and failure to intervene, corresponding to each of those claims. Finally, he brought claims against Chief of Police Edward Flynn for supervisory liability, and against the City of Milwaukee for municipal liability. In two written opinions, the district court entered judgment in favor of Defendants on all of the federal claims under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c). The district court dismissed the supplemental state law claims without prejudice. Gill now appeals the judgment on his federal claims.

II. DISCUSSION

We review de novo an entry of judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c). Buchanan-Moore v. Cty. of Milwaukee , 570 F.3d 824, 827 (7th Cir. 2009). A motion for judgment on the pleadings is subject to the same standard as a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). Id. Therefore, we must determine whether the complaint states "a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). "A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged." Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009).

A. Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment Claims

Gill claims that the detectives coerced his confession in violation of his right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment, as well as his substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. He also claims that the detectives are liable for conspiracy and failure to intervene based on these violations. Defendants argue that they are entitled to qualified immunity on these claims.

"The doctrine of qualified immunity shields officials from civil liability so long as their conduct ‘does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.’ " Mullenix v. Luna , ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 305, 308, 193 L.Ed.2d 255 (2015) (quoting Pearson v. Callahan , 555 U.S. 223, 231, 129 S.Ct. 808, 172 L.Ed.2d 565 (2009) ). To determine whether an official is entitled to qualified immunity, we must consider two questions: "(1) whether the facts, taken in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, make out a violation of a constitutional right, and (2) whether that constitutional right was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation." Allin v. City of Springfield , 845 F.3d 858, 862 (7th Cir. 2016) (citation omitted). We have the discretion to choose which of these inquiries to address first. Pearson , 555 U.S. at 236, 129 S.Ct. 808. Because the answer is dispositive, we address only whether the right at issue was clearly established.

"A clearly established right is one that is sufficiently clear that every reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right." Mullenix , 136 S.Ct. at 308 (citation and quotation marks omitted). The Supreme Court has continually reiterated that "clearly established law should not be defined at a high level of generality." White v. Pauly , ––– U.S. ––––, 137 S.Ct. 548, 552, 196 L.Ed.2d 463 (2017) (citation and quotation marks omitted). While a case directly on point is not required, "the clearly established law must be ‘particularized’ to the facts of the case." Id. at 551 (citation omitted). In other words, "existing precedent must have placed the statutory or constitutional question beyond debate." Mullenix , 136 S.Ct. at 308 (citation omitted).

Gill argues that the detectives violated his Fifth Amendment right when the "unconstitutionally coerced statements" were used against him in his criminal case, specifically in his preliminary hearing. He then claims that the detectives also violated his Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process right "to be free from coercive interrogation tactics." Both claims depend upon the coercive nature of the interrogation. Gill argues, therefore, that his right to be free from coercive interrogation was well established, such that the unconstitutionality of Defendants actions was settled.

To support that argument, Gill relies primarily on two principles from our case law. First, he points to the proposition that individuals with a diminished mental capacity can be particularly susceptible to coercive interrogation tactics. See, e.g. , Smith v. Duckworth , 910 F.2d 1492, 1497 (7th Cir. 1990) (citing Andersen v. Thieret , 903 F.2d 526, 530 n. 1 (7th...