Geitz v. Lindsey
| Decision Date | 19 January 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-1742,88-1742 |
| Citation | 893 F.2d 148 |
| Parties | 29 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1165 James B. GEITZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John LINDSEY, Dennis Bevirt and Michael Boyne, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Joseph L. Fogel, Jerold S. Solovy, David M. Greenwald (argued), Jenner & Block, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant.
James B. Geitz, Menard Correctional Center, Menard, Ill., pro se.
Thomas O. Falb (argued), Williamson, Webster, Groshong, Moorman & Falb, Alton, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before CUMMINGS, FLAUM and KANNE, Circuit Judges.
This appeal arises out of an action filed by the plaintiff under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 alleging the use of excessive force by several police officers in apprehending him during his unsuccessful attempt to escape from police custody. The plaintiff contends that the district court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence testimony regarding the specific details of the charges pending against him and of other unrelated prior convictions. We affirm.
On December 12, 1983, the plaintiff, James B. Geitz, was arrested by several officers of the Belleville Police Department for the felonies of home invasion, deviate sexual assault and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. At the time of the arrest, the officers were aware of the underlying details of the felony charges and also that Geitz had recently been released on bond for charges in Missouri of sodomy, burglary, and robbery. They also knew that he previously had been declared a sexual psychopath in the State of Illinois. The officers transported Geitz to the Belleville police station where one of the the arresting officers informed him that one of the victims of the sex crimes could identify him. Immediately thereafter, Geitz attempted to escape from police custody. While fleeing the station, numerous warnings were made that if he did not stop, he would be shot. Nevertheless, he continued his flight. Police officers, including the defendants, opened fire and shot him in the abdomen and in the back. Geitz was then taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
On December 10, 1985, Geitz filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against several police officers and the City of Belleville alleging that the defendants violated his civil rights pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 by using excessive force in apprehending him during his escape attempt. At the time of trial, only the defendants named in this appeal, Officers Lindsey, Boyne and Bevirt, remained as defendants.
Prior to the Sec. 1983 trial, Geitz was convicted of the charges for which he was arrested by the Belleville police. In the instant action, Geitz filed a motion in limine pursuant to Rules 403 and 609 of the Federal Rules of Evidence requesting that the district court preclude the defendants from adducing any evidence concerning the nature of the charges against Geitz at the time that he was being held in custody at the Belleville station. He further requested that the district court bar the defendants from introducing into evidence his convictions for those charges for the purpose of impeaching his credibility.
The defendants opposed the plaintiff's motion. They raised the statutory defense of Illinois Revised Statutes, Chapter 38, Section 7-5 (1983), namely, that deadly force can be used by a police officer when the police officer reasonably believed that such force was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or to other persons, or when he believed that such force was necessary to prevent the escape of a person who was a forcible felon, or there were other indications that the person escaping would endanger human life or inflict great bodily harm unless arrested without delay. 1 This statutory defense requires the jury to determine what a reasonable officer would have done based on the facts known to him at the time of the incident in question. The defendants argued that because the specific details of the pending charges and prior convictions were known to them at the time of the shooting, they must be allowed to present such evidence to the jury.
The district court granted Geitz's motion in part and denied it in part. The court allowed the use of the felony convictions for impeachment purposes but barred the defendants from "eliciting any testimony or introducing any evidence as to, or making any argument based on, the specific details of the crimes involved." The court further stated, however, that the defendants were permitted to "show the general nature of the charges against the plaintiff at the time of his arrest, what those charges involved in general terms, and the plaintiff's subsequent conviction thereon."
The case was then tried before a jury which returned a verdict in favor of the defendants. The trial court denied Geitz's motion to vacate its judgment entered on the verdict. He appeals.
The single issue presented by this appeal is whether the district court committed reversible error by admitting evidence of, and allowing argument as to, the details of the criminal charges pending against Geitz and other unrelated prior convictions. Geitz points to the following details, among others, which the defense was allowed to bring into evidence: the names and ages of the victims of the crimes for which he was being held at Belleville station; the specific physical evidence allegedly used in the commission of the crimes; the location of the crime scenes; the means by which Geitz allegedly gained entry to the crime scenes; and Geitz's behavior during interrogation upon learning what one of the victims told an officer during questioning. He argues that this evidence constituted "specific details of [his] criminal act" in derogation of the court's pretrial order and that the court erred in admitting the evidence because any probative value the evidence possessed relating to the defendants' state of mind was substantially outweighed by the prejudicial effect of the evidence. He claims that this evidence was offered solely to prejudice the jury and shift the focus of the trial from the reasonableness of the defendants' actions to his criminal past.
Geitz bears a heavy burden in seeking to have this Court overrule the district court's evidentiary decisions. Our standard of review in determining whether the district court committed...
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