Miller v. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Dept.

• Decision Date: 28 July 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-C-1696,86-C-1696
• Parties: Johnny Louis MILLER, et al, v. EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, et al. WONG
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 446

511 So.2d 446

Johnny Louis MILLER, et al, v. EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT, et al.

WONG

No. 86-C-1696.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

July 28, 1987.

Joseph Simpson, Simpson & Schwartz, Amite, for applicants.

William Cooper, Jr., Baton Rouge, for respondents.

DENNIS, Justice.

Our decision in this case hinges on whether more than one conclusion may reasonably be drawn as to whether a sheriff's department detective arrested and continued criminal proceedings against the plaintiffs without probable cause and with malice. After a bench trial, the district court found that the plaintiffs had fully proved malicious prosecution and awarded plaintiffs damages. On appeal, the court of appeal reversed, holding that the trial court erred manifestly in finding that the sheriff's detective had acted maliciously and without probable cause. Miller v. East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Department, 492 So.2d 23 (La.App. 1st Cir.1986). We reverse, reinstate the district court judgment with respect to liability and remand the case to the court of appeal for its review of the damage awards. In this case more than one reasonable conclusion could have been drawn as to whether the detective acted without probable cause or with malice. Consequently, the court of appeal fell into error when it disturbed the trial court's reasonable findings on these issues and its judgment as to the defendant's liability for malicious prosecution.

1. Factual Background

A Baton Rouge television station broadcast on its "Crime Stoppers" program a reenactment of an unsolved armed robbery-attempted murder which had occurred in East Baton Rouge Parish on November 12, 1982. The crime depicted in the program was one in which a man had been waylaid at night near Zachary, Louisiana as he entered the driveway to his rural home, beaten so severely that he nearly died and could not recall the identity of the culprit, and robbed of his wallet, truck and gun. A blue late model Ford pick-up truck had been seen in the vicinity before the offense by a witness who could not describe it more exactly because of darkness. Fingerprints and palm prints were taken from the victim's truck when it was found abandoned the day after the robbery in Slaughter, Louisiana. Viewers were invited to call a telephone number to give any information they might have concerning the offense. They were further informed that each caller would be assigned a code number to preserve his anonymity, and that information leading to arrest and conviction would entitle an informant to a reward.

In response to the program, an anonymous tipster identified the robbers as "Freddie Miller and his nephew." In due course, Lt. Cecil Jarreau, East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Detective, to whom the case had been assigned, was given the information as well as the circumstance under which it had been developed by Crime Stoppers. A few days later the tipster reported that Freddie Miller was in jail in Greensburg, Louisiana.

Lt. Jarreau went to the jail in Greensburg to interview Freddie Miller but found that he had been released on bail. However, the officer talked to another inmate, Eddie Joe Howell, who had been arrested for the same offense. Howell told him that he and Freddie Miller had been charged with the murder of Freddie Miller's nephew, Eldon O'Bryant, that Miller had been arrested first, but that he, Howell, had been arrested the next day because Miller "told them on me." When Howell was asked about Freddie Miller's involvement in any other crimes, Howell said that on or about November 17, 1982 at Miller's house in Amite, Miller asked him if he wanted to buy a gun and told him that a while back Freddie Miller and Johnny Miller waylaid a man coming into his driveway, beat him up badly, took his truck and wallet, and left him for dead. Howell also told Jarreau that Freddie used to commit crimes with Eldon O'Bryant, and that he, Howell, had advised Eldon on how to rob people in the country:

I told him--you just way-lay them at the gate when they come in--you know--that's why they always take their vehicle--I told him--I said--how's it gonna look--you jack some clown up and leave him in the ditch and their car is still there with the headlights on and all this kind of stuff--any passerby will call the "heat"--call the "man"--where you get rid of it and go dump it down the road somewhere or take it home and strip it or sell--or just get rid of it--people driving down the road or passing a police car--there ain't nothing still out of the ordinary.

Howell said that in November, 1982 he saw Miller using his father's "old raggedy" blue green 1960's or early 70's one ton truck. Lt. Jarreau was not aware that Howell had access to television in jail and did not question him about whether he had learned of the crime facts from the Crime Stoppers program.

During the interview Howell disclosed to Lt. Jarreau some of the details of his extensive criminal record which included several felony convictions. At trial Lt. Jarreau testified that he had discussed Howell's criminal record with him and had looked at his rap sheet. Jarreau remembered that Howell had been convicted of bank robbery for which he had served a five year sentence but he could not recall the other offenses. Eddie Joe Howell's arrest and conviction record introduced at trial was extensive. It included charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon, forgery, receiving stolen property, possession of two driver's licenses, possession of stolen property and carrying a concealed weapon. His convictions and sentences included five years for bank robbery in California and eight years for bank robbery and conspiracy to possess contraband in Indiana. Nevertheless, Lt. Jarreau testified that even though he got the rap sheet and looked at it, that did not make any difference in his decision as to whether Howell was a credible informant, because most of his information as a detective comes from the criminal element. Howell also informed the officer that he had received protection in the federal witness program in return for his testimony contributing to the conviction of an offender for murder committed in a federal penitentiary.

Lt. Jarreau the same day called Del Marie Howell, Eddie Joe Howell's wife, who lived in Amite, and interviewed her by telephone. Mrs. Howell had been charged with the murder of O'Bryant with her husband and Freddie Miller but was not in jail. She gave Lt. Jarreau information pertaining to Freddie and Johnny Miller based almost entirely on rumor, hearsay and alleged conversations with the Millers. She alleged generally that Freddie Miller had been involved in numerous crimes and said that he and others were responsible for service station robberies in Tangipahoa Parish and the dumping of an Orleans Parish murder victim's body in the lake. She had heard that Freddie committed these crimes with either Eldon O'Bryant or Johnny Miller, the latter, having become Miller's confederate after O'Bryant's death. However, she did not know anything about any East Baton Rouge Parish crimes in which Freddie may have been involved.

The detective sent Freddie Miller's fingerprints to the State Police for analysis but they reported that his prints did not match those on the victim's truck. Lt. Jarreau called Howell's federal probation officer and learned that he had received federal witness protection as he reported but that he had been discharged from the program because he did not continue to cooperate with the government. The Lieutenant called sheriffs' offices in surrounding parishes and determined that they had no record of an offense in November, 1982 similar to the one he was investigating. He also determined from the state motor vehicle bureau that Freddie Miller was the title holder of a 1970 Ford truck. He did not interview the witness who had seen a blue Ford truck in the vicinity the night of the crime or attempt to have the witness inspect Miller's truck because he thought darkness would have prevented the witness from positively identifying the truck or any of its distinguishing features.

Lt. Jarreau obtained a warrant for the arrest of Freddie Miller on charges of attempted murder and armed robbery based on the officer's sworn affidavit setting forth the following facts: (1) the victim was severely beaten and was unable to recall anything about the crime; (2) a wallet, .357 magnum revolver, and a truck were taken from the victim in the robbery; (3) the victim's employee who left the store minutes before his employer saw a dark blue Ford pick-up, approximately a 1966 model, following him just before the time of the robbery; (4) after the employee and the truck passed the victim's residence, the truck turned and headed back toward that residence; (5) an anonymous tipster from the Crime Stoppers Program implicated Freddie Miller and said that Freddie Miller had been arrested for murder in Greensburg, Louisiana; (6) Freddie Miller had been in jail, but had been released on bond; (7) another man, Eddie Joe Howell, arrested with Freddie Miller for another crime, stated Freddie and his nephew had committed several robberies; (8) Freddie Miller asked Howell in November if he wanted to buy a gun. Freddie told Howell that he and Johnny had beaten a man, taken his wallet and truck and left the man for dead, but later found that he was still alive; (9) Howell said that Freddie owned a dark blue-green Ford pick-up either late 1960's or early 70's model; (10) no other similar incidents had occurred in surrounding parishes in November; (11) Howell was a federal witness in a murder case, his testimony resulted in a conviction, all of which was verified by Howell's federal parole officer.

Pursuant to the warrant, Lt. Jarreau arrested Freddie Miller on March 9, 1983 and placed him in the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail. On the same day, under authority of a search warrant, Jarreau searched Miller's...