Henry v. County of Shasta

• Decision Date: 23 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 95-16704,95-16704
• Parties: 97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9610, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 1615, 97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 15,379 Rolland Richard HENRY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The COUNTY OF SHASTA; State of California; Jim Pope, as Sheriff; A.C. Chaidez, Officer; and H. Smith, Officer, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 512

132 F.3d 512

97 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 9610, 98 Cal. Daily

Op. Serv. 1615,

97 Daily Journal D.A.R. 15,379

Rolland Richard HENRY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The COUNTY OF SHASTA; State of California; Jim Pope, as

Sheriff; A.C. Chaidez, Officer; and H. Smith,

Officer, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 95-16704.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Dec. 12, 1996.

Decided Dec. 23, 1997.

Eric Berg, Redding, California, for the plaintiff-appellant.

John K. Hoxie, Deputy Attorney General, Sacramento, California, for the defendants-appellees State of California, A.C. Chaidez, and H. Smith.

Arthur Loyal Morgan, Jr., Halkides & Morgan, Redding, California, for the defendants-appellees County of Shasta and Jim Pope.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California; Garland E. Burrell, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-93-02038-GEB.

Before: BOOCHEVER, REINHARDT, and RYMER, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge REINHARDT; Dissent by Judge RYMER.

REINHARDT, Circuit Judge.

"Take me to your magistrate," Henry insisted, and the battle was on. It seems that Shasta County has a group of zealous citizens intent on ensuring that they and their associates are at all times afforded the full extent of their legal rights--to the last jot and tittle--and that all laws that affect them are strictly complied with, even in the case of minor vehicle code infractions. At the same time, according to the record as we must view it, the sheriff and certain other law enforcement officers who work in Shasta County take quite a different view of the legal process. As they see it, they are the law in Shasta County. ¹

I. Facts

At 9:55 p.m. on May 13, 1993, Rolland Richard Henry was stopped by California Highway Patrol Officer A.C. Chaidez because the tail lights on his car were not functioning. Together, Henry and Chaidez checked the automobile's fuses, which they found to be in working order. Chaidez then issued Henry a "Notice to Appear," i.e., a traffic ticket, for the broken tail lights and for failing to wear his seat belt. See Cal. Veh.Code §§ 24252(a), 27315(d). When Chaidez asked Henry to sign the ticket, however, Henry refused, explaining that "according to the California Vehicle Code Section 40302(c), [he] had the right for a mandatory appearance before a magistrate to have a judicial determination made at that time and that [he] demanded to be taken forthwith." Chaidez said that no magistrate was available at that hour. Henry then explained that under California law a magistrate must be available at all times. See Cal.Penal Code § 810. In response, Chaidez told Henry that if he did not sign the ticket, he would be arrested and put in jail. When, despite that threat, Henry repeated his demand to be taken to a magistrate, Chaidez radioed Sergeant H. Smith for assistance. When Smith arrived on the scene approximately thirty minutes later, Henry once again stated that he wanted to be taken to a magistrate without delay, in accordance with California law. Smith replied that "it might be the law, but it is not our (CHP) policy," and informed Henry that no magistrate would be available until the following day, so Chaidez would take him to jail if he refused to sign the ticket. ² When Henry said that he was not refusing to sign the ticket but was instead demanding, in accordance with state law, that he be taken to a magistrate, Smith told him that he was being arrested for a violation of sections 40302(b) and (c) of the California Vehicle Code. ³ At that point, Chaidez handcuffed Henry, placed him in the front seat of a patrol car, and drove him to the Shasta County Jail. Chaidez did not give Henry a Miranda warning, nor, it appears, did Henry receive one at any time while he was in custody. Upon arriving at the jail at 11:00 p.m., Chaidez told the booking officer that Henry was being jailed for refusing to sign a ticket. Henry renewed his demand to be taken to a magistrate without delay, to which the booking officer responded that Henry would not see a magistrate until the following day. Sergeant Bosenko and Deputy Doyle told Henry that he could either sign a promise to appear and be released on his own recognizance, or post bail, which was set at $76.00. When Henry renewed his request to be taken to a magistrate, he was booked on the charge of violating § 40302(b) of the California Vehicle Code. See supra note 3.

A deputy sheriff and a nurse then asked Henry some medical questions. The two would not tell Henry their names and he could not read their name tags because he did not have his glasses with him. ⁴ Henry stated that he had a heart problem for which he occasionally took nitroglycerin, but that he did not have his medication with him. He also stated that he was not suicidal, that he had never considered suicide, that he had not hit his head or suffered from dizzy spells recently, and that he did not need medical assistance. He refused to answer any other medical questions, however, instead telling his two interrogators that he needed to remain silent in order to protect his rights. He also told them that he would answer any questions asked of him once he was taken before a magistrate. The nurse informed him that his clothing would be removed and he would be placed in a padded medical "safety cell" (i.e., a "rubber room") if he did not answer her questions. Then, at 11:30 p.m., she ordered that he be taken to the hospital for an examination by a physician.

While Henry was at the hospital, ⁵ his wife had a telephone conversation with the nurse. According to the nurse, Mrs. Henry was belligerent and sounded intoxicated, stated that Henry had a heart condition and other medical problems, and, "[w]hen [the nurse] asked her if he was suicidal, she said that he could be," but she refused to say whether Henry had diabetes or any other serious medical condition or illness. Mrs. Henry's description of the conversation was rather different:

[The nurse] stated that [Henry] was fine. I asked her why I was talking to her. She stated it was standard procedure for all inmates to be placed under observation. I asked why my husband was being observed since he was fine when he was arrested. She repeated that it was just standard procedure for all inmates.

At no time did she ask me if my husband was suicidal or did she ask me if my husband had ever been suicidal. She mentioned nothing about my husband being at risk of a stroke, heart attack, or highly agitated.

Henry was returned to the jail at approximately 1:00 a.m. He again refused to answer a nurse's medical questions. Although the nurse stated in her declaration that Henry "did not appear to be in any distress," she nonetheless ordered that he be placed in a medical "safety cell." ⁶ Accordingly, Henry was searched and then taken to the cell--a padded room with no sink or other water supply and no heat. In lieu of a toilet, there was an uncovered hole cut in the center of the cell floor. The only other object in the cell was a plastic mattress thrown on the floor. The cell floor was sticky and had a strong smell of "stale urine." According to Henry, the nurse told two or three deputies "that she wasn't going to fool with [him] and if [he] did not want to answer her questions that she would show [him], and then told the deputies to remove all of [his] clothes." The deputies complied with her orders. After further discussion with the deputies, the nurse ultimately consented to give Henry a blanket. A deputy threw the blanket onto the floor in the far corner of the room. Henry was placed on suicide watch, with "checks" every fifteen minutes, ⁷ and "remained in that room with [his] feet and body sticking to the urine splattered floor for about 2 and one-half hours." ⁸

At that point, two deputies came to get Henry and "paraded [him] through the jail, naked, to the booking cage in full view of male and female deputies and inmates." Henry once again refused to answer any questions or to sign anything until he was taken before a magistrate. He was photographed and then taken back to the "urine-coated" rubber room, where he was left until 9:10 a.m. At that point, a deputy came to the cell, and Henry asked him for a form habeas corpus petition, a pencil, and a magnifying glass (to enable him to see without his glasses so that he could fill out the form). The deputy just laughed and said, "Yeah right." When Henry stated that he had a right to the materials necessary for preparing a habeas petition, the deputy again laughed at him, announcing "that as long as [Henry] was in that cell that [he] had no rights." The deputy then left, but Henry overheard him telling other officers about the request for the habeas materials. The other officers also laughed loudly when they heard of the request.

Shortly, a different deputy arrived and asked Henry if he knew why he was being held in a padded cell. When Henry said "no," the deputy told him that the reason was because he had refused to fill out the forms and answer the questions presented to him. The deputy then told Henry that "if [Henry] did not sign [the deputy's] paper that [he] would remain in that cell, naked, indefinitely. [The deputy] also told [him] that there would be no appearance before a judge either." Fearing for his health and safety, Henry "agreed under threat" to comply. When he explained to the deputy that he could not see to read--or even to sign--the statement the deputy produced, the deputy placed Henry's hand at the signature line and had him sign the form anyway. Apparently, no one ever bothered to read the statement aloud so that Henry would know what he was being compelled to sign.

After Henry signed the statement, the deputy told him that "if at anytime [he] refused to sign any and all papers or answer any and all questions to [the deputy's] satisfaction, [he] would find [himself] right back where [he] started, naked and in the urine-coated cell." Only after...