Fair v. King Cnty.
| Decision Date | 13 April 2023 |
| Docket Number | C21-1706 JHC |
| Parties | EMANUEL D. FAIR, Plaintiff, v. KING COUNTY; CITY OF REDMOND; BRIAN COATS; RON J. HARDING; LENWORTH G. KNOWLES; GREG MAINS; GREG L. PATRICK; LON SHULTZ[1]; DAVID SOWERS; ANN MARIE FEIN; SHAWN McCRILLIS; KRISTI WILSON[2]; TERRY MORGAN; JAN FULLER; JEFF BAIRD; TODD CLARK; JOHN DIAZ; and JOHN DOES 1-20 Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Washington |
This matter comes before the Court on two motions to dismiss (Dkt ## 43 & 67), each brought by a different group of defendants. The City of Redmond and individual members of the Redmond Police Department (collectively, the “Redmond Defendants”) move for dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(c). See Redmond's Mot. (Dkt. # 43).[3]King County, supervisors in King County's Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (“DAJD”), and King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (“DPA”) Jeff Baird (collectively, the “King County Defendants”) also move for dismissal, but they cite both Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 12(c). See King Cnty.'s Mot. (Dkt. # 67). No party requested oral argument, and the Court does not believe that oral argument would be beneficial. Having reviewed all papers filed in support of,[4] and in opposition to, the motions, the Court enters the following Order.
Plaintiff Emanuel D. Fair alleges that he was maliciously or negligently prosecuted for a murder that he says he did not commit, and as to which he was acquitted by a jury in June 2019 after spending nine years in pretrial detention at the King County Correctional Facility, colloquially known as King County Jail. He sues the Redmond Defendants and DPA Baird for malicious prosecution under federal (42 U.S.C. § 1983) and state (common) law, as well as for negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and intentional infliction of emotional distress (outrage). He brings a § 1983 claim and state law negligence and intentional tort claims against King County and DAJD personnel for alleged maltreatment during his time at King County Jail. Plaintiff's claims relate to the following events.
In the early morning hours of November 1, 2008, Arpana Jinaga was murdered. Am. Compl. at ¶ 33 (Dkt. # 27). Her body was discovered in her apartment in Redmond on November 3, 2008, by a family friend, accompanied by one of Jinaga's neighbors, Cameron Johnson. Id. at ¶¶ 33 & 52; see Certification for Determination of Probable Cause (“PC Certification”) at 2 (App. A). Jinaga had helped host a Halloween party the evening before her death, which was attended by 40 to 50 people, including Plaintiff Emanuel Fair. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 37 & 42. During the party, the front door to Jinaga's apartment was left open, and guests had full access to her living space. Id. at ¶ 39. Plaintiff was inside the unit at various times during the party; he used Jinaga's bathroom and entered her bedroom while she was present with other guests. Id. at ¶ 40. Plaintiff had not, however, previously known Jinaga or been at the apartment complex. Id. at ¶¶ 38 & 41.
According to Plaintiff, after listening to music in Johnson's apartment, he went to Leslie Potts's apartment sometime between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. and slept in her bed until about 10:00 a.m., at which time he began helping clean up debris from the party, depositing some of it in the complex's dumpster. Id. at ¶¶ 45 & 48-49. The operative pleading seems to suggest that, during murder-investigation interviews, Potts corroborated Plaintiff's account. Id. at ¶ 46 & 49. The PC Certification, however, states that Potts told detectives she went to bed before Plaintiff, left the door unlocked for him, and did not know what time he came in. See PC Certification at 7. In the morning, she found an empty condom package on the kitchen table, which had not been there the previous evening, and assumed Plaintiff had had intercourse during the interim. Id.
Another resident of the apartment complex, Jeffrey Perras, did not attend the party but returned home around 3:00 a.m. and observed a man wearing an orange fleece jacket, about 5'11” to 6'3” in height, with an olive complexion and light stubble, standing in Jinaga's doorway, talking to someone inside the unit. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 47 & 59. This description allegedly matches Johnson (Jinaga's neighbor) more than Plaintiff, who is a short, Black man, and was not wearing an orange jacket. Id. at ¶¶ 3, 34, 47 & 77. Jinaga was apparently alive and on her computer at 3:29 a.m.; her time of death was estimated to be between 3:30 and 8:00 a.m. on November 1, 2008. Id. at ¶¶ 60-61.
The medical examiner opined that Jinaga died from asphyxiation caused by strangulation. Id. at ¶ 62; see PC Certification at 2. When discovered, her naked body was covered in motor oil, and her fingers and fingernails had been cleaned and then covered with toilet bowl cleaner. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 55-56. Burn marks in the vicinity suggested a failed attempt to set a fire to cover up the murder. Id. Jinaga's oil-soaked, bloodstained, and torn underpants were found on the kitchen counter, and a roll of black tape, with a length extended, was discovered on a sofa in the living room. See PC Certification at 4. Saliva containing Jinaga's DNA was collected from the underpants, and long, dark hairs, which were likely Jinaga's, as well as fragments of elastic from the torn underpants, were on a length of the black tape, suggesting that the underpants and tape were used to gag Jinaga. Id. at 4 & 8. In the apartment complex's dumpster, investigators found Jinaga's bed sheets and a bag containing a bottle of motor oil, a boot lace believed to be the ligature used to strangle Jinaga, and a red terry-cloth bathrobe. Am. Compl. at ¶ 69; see PC Certification at 4-5.
The PC Certification stated that Plaintiff's DNA was discovered (i) mixed with Jinaga's bloodstains on the bathrobe, (ii) on the length of black tape recovered from Jinaga's sofa, and (iii) on a swab taken from Jinaga's neck during her autopsy. See PC Certification at 8. The PC Certification further indicated that Plaintiff made or received 20 calls between 1:54 a.m. and 4:48 a.m. on November 1, 2008, seven of which were with a number associated with an ad for sexual services, and three of which were with Potts, during the period when Plaintiff indicated he was in bed with her. Id. at 6-7.
According to the operative pleading, neighbor Johnson's DNA was found on the motor oil bottle and in a section of wet carpet near Jinaga's body. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 84 & 86. On November 1, 2008, Johnson apparently attempted to cross the Canadian border without a passport. Id. at ¶ 74. He also hurt himself, while at a post-Halloween party, in “a way that seemed fake and odd” in an apparent effort to create an explanation for his injuries, which were consistent with those that would have been sustained during a sexual assault of Jinaga. Id. at ¶ 75. In addition, on November 1, 2008, Johnson visited a pawn shop, which was suspicious because Jinaga's phone and digital camera were missing from her apartment and never recovered. Id. at ¶ 76.
Along with Johnson, the Amended Complaint lists a number of possible suspects, including Aaron Gurtler, one of Jinaga's former sexual partners, whose DNA was found at the crime scene, id. at ¶ 92, and Josiah Lovett, another apartment complex resident, whose DNA was found on the boot lace and the bathrobe found in the bag with the motor oil, id. at ¶ 96. In the operative pleading, Redmond police personnel are accused of failing to investigate these other persons of interest “with any tenacity,” id. at ¶ 100, and they are alleged to have focused on Plaintiff because he was “the only African American at the party” and an “outsider,” id. at ¶ 101. Plaintiff's 2004 statutory rape conviction was also a likely factor, see id. at ¶ 102, but the Amended Complaint also alludes to Redmond's retention of a “psychic medium” named Allison DuBois, which allegedly coincided with Plaintiff being deemed the “prime suspect,” id. at ¶¶ 104-05.
On October 29, 2010, almost two years after Jinaga was killed, Plaintiff was charged with murder and booked into King County Jail. Id. at ¶ 125; see Information (App. A). Plaintiff's first trial started on February 14, 2017, and ended on April 19, 2017, with a hung jury. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 126-27; see Order Declaring Deadlock (App. E). After a second trial in 2019, Plaintiff was acquitted. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 128-29; see Verdict (App. H).
During eight of the nine years of his pretrial detention at King County Jail, Plaintiff was housed in the Protective Custody Unit (“PCU”); the operative pleading alleges that this decision was based on assumptions about Plaintiff's non-existent gang affiliations. Am. Compl. at ¶¶ 131-32. Plaintiff alleges that, while in PCU, he would often be on “lockdown” in a solitary confinement cell, without access to a shower or exercise, for weeks at a time. Id. at ¶ 133. Plaintiff further alleges that he asked for medical and psychiatric services but did not receive any treatment for conditions that he says he developed while in custody: severe sleep apnea, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Id. at ¶¶ 135-36. Plaintiff also accuses unnamed King County Jail staff of sexually harassing and humiliating him. Id. at ¶ 137.
In February 2016, about a year before his first trial began Plaintiff filed a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Fair v. King Cnty., Case No. C16-273 JLR (W.D. Wash.). Based on a stipulation of the parties, the matter was dismissed with prejudice. See Apps. J-L. King County and...
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