Keating v. Martin, 80-1520
| Decision Date | 31 December 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1520,80-1520 |
| Citation | 638 F.2d 1121 |
| Parties | Patrick Murray KEATING, Appellant, v. Ralph MARTIN, William O'Sullivan, Charles Williams, James Lyons, Henri Watson, Robert DeCoursey, Richard P. Sprinkle, and Harold Barrick, Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Patrick M. Keating, appellant pro se.
Russell D. Jacobson, Associate County Counselor and R. Jay Ingraham, County Counselor, Kansas City, Mo., for appellees, Sprinkle, Martin, O'Sullivan and Lyons.
Deacy & Deacy, Kansas City, Mo., Spencer J. Brown, Phillip B. Grubaugh, Kansas City, Mo., for defendant-appellee Harold Barrick.
J. F. Steineger, Steineger & Holbrook, P. A., Kansas City, Kan., for appellee Robert DeCoursey.
Before LAY, Chief Judge, GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge, and HEANEY, Circuit Judge.
Patrick Keating, pro se, appeals from the dismissal of an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. All of Keating's claims arise out of his state prosecution and conviction for possession of a controlled substance. 1 The district court dismissed Keating's petition pursuant to F.R.C.P. 12(b)(1), (6). We affirm.
Keating alleges that actions taken by members of the Jackson County Attorney's office regarding his prosecution and the dismissal of charges against an informant, Sharon Pollard, violated his constitutional rights. It is also alleged that Assistant Jackson County Public Defender Henri Watson, who represented Pollard, had somehow acted to deprive Keating of his rights. The Honorable Richard P. Sprinkle of the 16th Judicial Circuit of Missouri is alleged to have met with Watson and a member of the prosecutor's staff to "arrange for the denial of admission into evidence" of certain materials which Keating planned to introduce at trial.
Keating also alleges that his rights were violated by Robert DeCoursey, at that time Assistant District Attorney of the 29th Judicial District of Kansas, who dismissed Kansas charges pending against Pollard. Finally, Keating maintains that the meeting held by Judge Sprinkle was at the recommendation of Harold Barrick, an official of the Missouri Bar Association, and who subsequently initiated disbarment proceedings against Keating.
Keating's claim regarding Judge Sprinkle fails by virtue of the doctrine of judicial immunity. A judge is deprived of his immunity from such suits only when he has acted in "clear absence of all jurisdiction." Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 355-57, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 1104, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978); McClain v. Brown, 587 F.2d 389, 390 (8th Cir. 1978). It is clear that the actions complained of here were well within the judge's jurisdiction.
Prosecutors and their assistants also enjoy immunity from section 1983 actions so long as the actions complained of appear to be within the scope of prosecutorial duties. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976). This immunity is equally available to investigators for the state prosecutor for actions in connection with a criminal prosecution. Atkins v. Lanning, 556 F.2d 485, 488 (10th Cir. 1977); Waits v. McGowan, 516 F.2d 203, 206 (3rd Cir. 1975). See Scheur v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974); Wilhelm v. Turner, 431 F.2d 177, 180 (8th Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 947, 91 S.Ct. 919, 28 L.Ed.2d 230 (1971). The allegations of Keating's complaint all arise from actions taken by prosecutors and their staff members in the course of performance of their official duties.
The district court held that the complaint was properly dismissed as to assistant public defender Henri Watson. It found that although Watson was an officer of the state court, he was not acting under color of state law and thus it did not have the necessary subject matter jurisdiction under section 1983. Subsequently this court, in Dodson v. Polk County, 628 F.2d 1104 (8th Cir. 1980), held that a county-employed public defender acts under color of state law in representing indigent defendants. In so holding we pointed out that a public defender enjoys a qualified immunity under section 1983. Id. at 1108. In Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. 635, 641, 100 S.Ct. 1920, 1924, 64 L.Ed.2d 572 (1980) the Supreme Court made clear that in a section 1983 action against a public official whose position might entitle him to qualified immunity, a plaintiff need not allege that the official acted in bad faith in order to state a...
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...district court correctly dismissed the claims against the judge appellees. Id., 616 F.2d at 1091 (citations omitted). In Keating v. Martin, 638 F.2d 1121 (8th Cir. 1980), the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit similarly held a judge defendant immune from suit under § 1983 for allegedly......
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...v. Cahalan, 542 F.2d 681 (6th Cir.1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 966, 97 S.Ct. 1647, 52 L.Ed.2d 357 (1977). But cf. Keating v. Martin, 638 F.2d 1121 (8th Cir.1980) (per curiam) (prosecutor held absolutely immune for all acts within the scope of his duty).The Court also has observed that some......
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