Maltby v. Winston
| Decision Date | 14 September 1994 |
| Docket Number | 92-1958 and 92-3447,Nos. 92-1846,s. 92-1846 |
| Citation | 36 F.3d 548 |
| Parties | Kerry L. MALTBY, Plaintiff-Appellee/Cross-Appellant, v. Marty WINSTON, Defendant-Appellant, and DeWayne Bond, Sheriff of Schuyler County, and West Central Illinois Task Force, Defendants/Cross-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Daniel C. Lanterman (argued), Charles J. Gramlich, Gramlich Law Offices, P.C., Springfield, IL, for Kerry L. Maltby.
Terence J. Corrigan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of The Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Div., Karen L. McNaught, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of The Attorney General, Springfield, IL, Jan E. Hughes, Asst. Atty. Gen., Alison E. O'Hara (argued), Office of The Attorney General, Civil Appeals Div., Chicago, IL, for Marty Winston in Nos. 92-1846 and 92-3447.
Randy E. Blue, Terence J. Corrigan, Asst. Attys. Gen., Office of The Attorney General, Criminal Appeals Div., Karen L. McNaught, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of The Attorney General, Springfield, IL, Jan E. Hughes, Asst. Atty. Gen., Alison E. O'Hara (argued), Office of The Attorney General, Civil Appeals Div., Chicago, IL, for Marty Winston, West Cent. Illinois Task Force in No. 92-1958.
Frederick P. Velde, Patrick J. Londrigan (argued), Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Springfield, IL, Karen L. Kendall, Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Peoria, IL, for DeWayne Bond in No. 92-1958.
Daniel C. Lanterman (argued), Charles J. Gramlich, Gramlich Law Offices, P.C., Springfield, IL, Karen L. Kendall, Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Peoria, IL, for Kerry L. Maltby in No. 92-3447.
Before CUDAHY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges, and PLUNKETT, * District Judge.
Kerry Maltby brought this action against Inspector Marty Winston, Sheriff DeWayne Bond, and the Central Illinois Task Force pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 for violations of his rights secured by the Fourth Amendment as made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. All of the defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law. The district court entered judgment in favor of Sheriff Bond, but denied such relief to the Task Force and to Inspector Winston. The question of liability went to the jury; it found that Inspector Winston had violated Mr. Maltby's rights and was not entitled to qualified immunity. The jury, however, returned a verdict in favor of the Task Force. Officer Winston now appeals. Mr. Maltby cross-appeals the district court's judgment as a matter of law in favor of Sheriff Bond and the jury's verdict in favor of the Task Force. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
A. Facts
The West Central Illinois Task Force ("Task Force") is a multijurisdictional law enforcement agency comprised of various rural police and sheriff's departments. The Task Force is organized pursuant to the Illinois Constitution and to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, 5 ILCS 220/1, which allow local governmental entities to pool resources. The purpose of the Task Force is to combine resources to combat more efficiently increased drug trafficking through both covert and overt operations. Any local department that wishes to join the Task Force is required to donate the services of one officer and a working car. The Task Force is directed by a Review Committee composed of the head officers from the participating agencies. It receives assistance from the Illinois Department of Criminal Investigation ("DCI"), which provides the Task Force with a facility to house the unit, training programs, equipment, and inspector status for its officers. Sheriff DeWayne Bond of Schuyler County desired to participate in the Task Force. He assigned one of his deputies, Marty Winston, to the Task Force.
On June 4, 1987, the Task Force conducted a covert drug investigation. Inspector Winston received a tip from a confidential source that a man named Kerry Maltby would be at the Dairy Queen in a brown Ford and would be prepared to sell narcotics. The source of this information was Anthony Hankins, who had become an informant of the Task Force two months earlier. When Inspector Winston had inquired, the DCI had informed him that Hankins was considered a reliable informant. Hankins had provided information to the Task Force on purchases of look-alike substances 1 and, as a result of these dealings, Inspector Winston considered Hankins reliable. With respect to this purchase, Hankins called Inspector Winston and told him that he had set up a drug purchase for six o'clock that evening. Hankins further informed Inspector Winston that the name of the seller was Kerry Maltby and that Hankins knew Mr. Maltby personally. In response to this information, the Task Force organized a surveillance team to monitor the undercover drug purchase.
At 5:45 p.m., Sergeant Gerald Kempf and Inspectors Winston and Bushon observed Inspector Sage pick up Hankins in Inspector Sage's undercover vehicle. Inspector Sage then advised the agents that he and Hankins were to meet Mr. Maltby at the Dairy Queen parking lot, and that Mr. Maltby was going to be driving a brown Ford. Inspector Winston, from a distance of approximately 200 feet, observed the undercover vehicle pull into the parking lot next to a brown Ford with a man in the driver's seat. Inspector Sage left his car and went over to the brown Ford. Hankins introduced the person in the Ford as Kerry Maltby. Inspector Sage then purchased what purported to be LSD from Mr. Maltby and also inquired about purchasing marijuana. During the entire transaction, which lasted approximately thirteen minutes, Mr. Maltby did not leave his car. After the transaction, the brown Ford left the parking lot and drove past Inspector Winston at between 15 and 25 miles per hour and at a distance of approximately thirty feet. The agents did not arrest Mr. Maltby after the transaction because they hoped to conduct more drug transactions with him. Inspector Winston later discovered that the brown Ford driven by the seller was registered to a Virgil Riley of Beardstown.
Sometime after this transaction, a suspect involved in prior marijuana purchases set up by Hankins contacted Inspector Sage to arrange a purchase. This suspect, Chestnut, told Inspector Sage that he intended to split the money from the proposed sale with Hankins. Receiving the proceeds from any drug transaction would have violated Hankins' informant agreement with the Task Force. Inspector Winston confronted Hankins with Chestnut's intention to split the money and, consequently, Hankins did not participate in Because Hankins was no longer available to set up undercover drug purchases from Mr. Maltby, the possibility of further purchases from the source evaporated. Inspector Winston therefore brought Mr. Maltby in for questioning regarding the Dairy Queen incident with the purpose of trying to persuade Mr. Maltby to become an informant. At the meeting, Mr. Maltby denied knowledge of the Dairy Queen transaction and declined to be an informant.
any more transactions with the Task Force; indeed, he left town for a period of time.
About a week later, after consulting with the supervising officer for the Dairy Queen transaction, Sgt. Kempf, Inspector Winston provided information on the Dairy Queen incident to the prosecutor, Alesia McMillen, in order to obtain a warrant for Mr. Maltby's arrest. The prosecutor in turn presented the information to a state circuit court judge. The judge issued a warrant for Mr. Maltby's arrest, and he was arrested the following day.
On August 12, Mr. Maltby appeared for a preliminary hearing. At the hearing, the prosecutor, as was her practice, called only one officer to testify to establish probable cause. Inspector Winston testified that he got a good look at the man who sold Inspector Sage the purported LSD and that the man was Mr. Maltby. Mr. Maltby's counsel cross-examined Inspector Winston on his view of the suspect but, for strategy reasons, called no witnesses on Mr. Maltby's behalf. There were, however, three alibi witnesses at the hearing prepared to testify. After the hearing, defense counsel advised the prosecutor of the alibi witnesses. Prosecutor McMillen then requested Inspector Winston to check out the witnesses' statements in preparation for trial. The parties met again on October 1 for a pretrial conference. At this time, Mr. Maltby declined a plea bargain and the case proceeded to trial.
Sheriff Bond was the person who transported Mr. Maltby from the jail to the courthouse for these hearings. During one of Mr. Maltby's trips to the courthouse, it is not clear which one, Mr. Maltby told Sheriff Bond that the authorities had the wrong person. As a precaution, Sheriff Bond called Task Force headquarters to make sure that Mr. Maltby had been identified by the undercover officer.
On October 6, in preparation for trial, Inspector Winston asked that Inspector Sage view a mug shot of Mr. Maltby. The photograph, however, was of poor quality, and Inspector Sage requested to view the suspect in person. Inspector Sage and Inspector Winston then went to the Fulton County Jail. After viewing Mr. Maltby for three seconds, Inspector Sage told Inspector Winston that Mr. Maltby was not the man from whom he had purchased the look-alike substance in the Dairy Queen parking lot. Inspector Winston notified the prosecutor of Inspector Sage's lack of identification. The prosecutor telephoned the judge and he authorized her to contact the jail for Mr. Maltby's immediate release.
B. District Court Proceedings
Mr. Maltby brought this suit against Inspector Winston, Sheriff Bond, and the Task Force for violating his civil rights. At the close of plaintiff's case, all of the defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law. 2 The court granted Sheriff Bond's motion:
[T]here is no way that a verdict against Sheriff Bond, qua sheriff, could stand. Absolutely none. There is not any evidence R.6...
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