Hafner v. Brown
| Decision Date | 22 December 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-1155,92-1155 |
| Citation | 983 F.2d 570 |
| Parties | 37 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 935 Mark R. HAFNER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. David BROWN; Gary Reininger; Jonathan Pease; Terry Ressin, Defendants-Appellants, and David Hahn, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Woong (Thomas) Yi, Gartrell, Alexander & Gebhardt, Silver Spring, MD, argued (Bernadette Gartrell, on brief), for defendants-appellants.
Allan Heneson, Gordon & Heneson, P.A., Baltimore, MD, argued, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judge, and SPROUSE and CHAPMAN, Senior Circuit Judges.
Mark Hafner, the appellee, filed a civil suit seeking compensatory and punitive damages against five Baltimore City Police Officers--David Hahn, David Brown, Jonathan Pease, Gary Reininger, and Terry Ressin--in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Hafner claimed that the officers deprived him of his constitutional rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 through the use of excessive force during arrest and that they acted in conspiracy to violate his rights. After initial jury deliberations and supplementary jury instructions requiring additional deliberation, the jury returned a verdict for Hahn 1 but against Brown, Pease, Reininger, and Ressin. Those four officers have brought the present appeal.
In the early morning hours of November 4, 1989, Hafner was seen toting a shotgun as he walked the streets of Baltimore. Matt Carter, a trial witness for Hafner, testified that he saw Hafner on Holabird Avenue at 1 a.m. and witnessed him fire once in the direction of an industrial park, once down Holabird Avenue toward Dundalk Avenue, and twice or thrice through the windshield of his own car. Carter then saw Hafner walk down Holabird Avenue toward Dundalk.
Appellant Officer Brown testified that at approximately 1:10 a.m. that same morning, while working in a marked one-person police unit, he entered a 7-Eleven convenience store on Holabird Avenue. Shortly thereafter, a woman (Hafner's witness Linda Manley) rushed in shouting that a man with a gun was outside. When Brown exited the store into the parking lot, he heard a shotgun blast and observed Hafner approximately thirty feet away with a shotgun. He took cover, drew his gun, and called for assistance on his police radio.
In response to the call for assistance, first Officer Hahn and then Officers Reininger, Pease, and Ressin arrived at the scene. According to Hahn's testimony, as Hahn exited his car, Hafner fired in his direction and then continued walking down the sidewalk. Reininger and Pease confronted Hafner and demanded that he drop his shotgun. After a very brief hesitation, he followed the police instruction.
What exactly followed was the key factual determination in the trial below. The police officers contended that Hafner was "combative and resisted being handcuffed by kicking and flailing his arms around" and perhaps was high on drugs. They argued that they reacted appropriately to Hafner's high level of resistance and his frenzied behavior.
Hafner's witnesses, Carter and Manley, painted a different picture. Carter testified that some time after he saw Hafner shooting the shotgun, he noticed in the distance (approximately 100 yards) what looked like an arrest and in particular a blond-haired officer (Pease) kicking someone in an extremely vicious manner, likening it to a football player "kicking field goals." As he advanced, he saw Hafner handcuffed and lying face down on the ground. As Hafner was lifted into the paddy wagon, the blond-haired officer pushed him into the wagon.
Manley testified that at about 1 o'clock of the morning in question she was talking with Officer Brown in the 7-Eleven. She alerted Brown that the shotgun-toting person was outside and remained in the 7-Eleven parking lot during the entire episode. At the trial, she claimed to have witnessed Officer Brown and especially Officers Pease, Reininger, and Ressin "beat[ing] [Hafner] up really bad;" in particular, she described a ruthless repetition of kicking, punching, and tripping of Hafner after he was handcuffed (what she referred to as a "beating frenzy"). Counter to the officers' claims, she stated that Hafner did not resist arrest but simply lay there and only began moving in response to the officers' kicks.
After Hafner's arrest on November 4, 1989, he was taken to the police station and charged with assault with intent to murder, battery, resisting arrest, possession of a deadly weapon with intent to injure, and discharging a firearm within the Baltimore City limits. On October 24, 1990, Hafner filed the present complaint against Officers Brown, Pease, Reininger, and Hahn. The complaint alleged excessive use of force by the officers against Hafner during his arrest. He later amended his complaint to include (1) as a defendant Officer Ressin and (2) as a claim conspiracy to deprive him of his constitutional rights.
A jury trial began on September 23, 1991. Two eyewitnesses, Carter and Manley, testified on behalf of Hafner. During cross examination of Manley, the appellants' counsel attempted to ask whether she had ever been arrested before and the nature of those arrests in order to show a likely bias against the police. Hafner's counsel objected on the grounds that only convictions should be used to attack credibility and the district court sustained the objection.
After both sides had closed their cases, the district court gave instructions to the jury. In particular, he gave Hafner's instruction # 15 concerning civil conspiracy and refused to give the officers' instructions on conspiracy (# 10 and # 11). The officers' counsel took exception to Hafner's instruction on the ground that it was "an overstatement of the law in conspiracy."
The district judge also delivered Hafner's instruction # 7 discussing the rights provided by Title 42, Section 1983 as arising from the Fourteenth Amendment. Two other Hafner instructions (# 8 and # 9) given to the jury also contained references to the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
During its deliberations, the jury asked for clarification about the duty of the jurors to award damages and in what fashion, individual or lump sum, that award should be assessed. The district judge responded that:
Compensatory damages are assessed against all defendants whom you find liable for excessive force. You should determine whether any defendants are liable under this claim. To the extent any defendant is liable, you should determine the monetary value of the plaintiff's injury. This amount will be borne by each of the defendants you find guilty equally. The same procedure should be used regarding the claim of conspiracy ... You may assess punitive damages against any defendant guilty of either charge. However, the punitive damages awarded to each individual will be borne by that defendant individually.
After deliberating in light of the instruction, the jury returned the following verdict on Counts I (excessive use of force) and II (conspiracy):
Count I Count II Compensatory Punitive
Hahn not liable not liable
Brown not liable liable $ 0 $ 1,000
Reininger liable liable $ 8,000 $ 3,000
Pease liable liable $12,000 $ 5,000
Ressin not liable liable $ 0 $ 1,000
TOTAL $20,000 $10,000
Additionally, the forewoman stated that the jury had added conspiracy damages "because we were told there were three awards."
The district judge immediately concluded that the jury had committed two errors in the verdict: (1) mistakenly assessing different amounts for compensatory damages and (2) incorrectly assessing punitive damages without a finding of compensatory damages (though the finding of liability including damages for conspiracy would supply such a finding). The district judge temporarily had the jury retire in order to permit discussion by him of the verdict with counsel. Extensive debate ensued. Hafner contended that the jury had not announced its entire verdict claiming that the verdict was not fixed and final. The officers countered that the verdict was complete and that those portions which were in error should be struck, resulting in no damages against Brown or Ressin. The officers also asserted that the jury should only be allowed to readjourn to determine a single compensatory damage level for Pease and Reininger.
The district judge recalled the jury and asked the forewoman whether any part of the verdict remained unannounced. The forewoman responded that she still needed to read conspiracy charges for damages. On further questioning by the district judge, the forewoman explained that some confusion existed about possible awards, with the jury's understanding being that three awards were to be determined: compensatory, punitive, and conspiracy. The district judge further examined the forewoman to determine what the jury had decided with respect to the guilt of the different officers. After considering her responses and the entreaties of counsel, the district judge offered a supplemental instruction to the jury and allowed the jurors to deliberate a second time. The new instruction was more explicit:
... before you can award punitive damages, you have to find some compensatory damages. With regard to compensatory damages, it should be only one amount determined. The defendants who you find liable are liable jointly and severally for any compensatory damages. Now, contrary, with regard to punitive damages, the figure can be different as to each defendant against whom it is assessed, like you said. They may vary depending upon the circumstances involved as to that defendant.
After deliberating in light of the new instruction, the jury returned the following verdict on Counts I (excessive use of force) and II (conspiracy):
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