Odd v. Malone

Decision Date04 August 2008
Docket NumberNo. 07-1490.,No. 06-4287.,06-4287.,07-1490.
Citation538 F.3d 202
PartiesKorvel ODD, v. Thomas MALONE; Office of District Attorney of Philadelphia, Appellants. Nicole Schneyder, Appellant, v. Gina Smith, Esquire; Office of District Attorney of Philadelphia.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

Daniel Silverman (Argued), Silverman & Associates, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellee Odd, Appellant Schneyder.

Ronald Eisenberg (Argued), Three South Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA, for Appellants Thomas Malone and Office of District Attorney of Philadelphia, Appellees Gina Smith and Office of District Attorney of Philadelphia.

Before: FISHER, HARDIMAN and ALDISERT, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

HARDIMAN, Circuit Judge.

These consolidated appeals concern the scope of prosecutorial immunity. In both cases, prosecuting attorneys obtained bench warrants to detain material witnesses whose testimony was vital to murder prosecutions. Although the attorneys diligently obtained the warrants, they neglected to keep the courts informed of the progress of the criminal proceedings and the custodial status of the witnesses. The question before us is whether the attorneys are entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity for their omissions.

In No. 07-1490, we decide whether a prosecutor may be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for failing to notify the relevant authorities that the proceedings in which the detained individual was to testify had been continued for nearly four months. In No. 06-4287, we decide whether a prosecutor may be sued for failing to notify the relevant authorities that the material witness remained incarcerated after the case in which he was to testify had been dismissed.

I.

Because we review the District Courts' rulings on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss, our recitation of the facts is limited to those alleged in Plaintiffs' complaints. Yarris v. County of Delaware, 465 F.3d 129, 134 (3d Cir.2006). We accept those facts as true and draw all reasonable inferences in Plaintiffs' favor. Id.

A. Plaintiff-Appellant Nicole Schneyder (No. 07-1490)

Nicole Schneyder was a reluctant but essential witness in three attempts by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to convict Michael Overby of first-degree murder. See Commonwealth v. Overby, 570 Pa. 328, 809 A.2d 295, 298-99 (2002). In the first two trials, the court declared Schneyder unavailable and admitted her sworn statement into evidence. Id. at 299. The second jury convicted Overby and sentenced him to death, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered a new trial, holding that the handling of Schneyder's testimony violated Overby's Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. Id. at 299-300.

In preparing to prosecute Overby a third time, Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Gina Smith obtained a material witness bench warrant for Schneyder's arrest from Judge Rayford Means of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. After a January 27, 2005 bail hearing, Schneyder, who was represented by a public defender, was detained after she failed to post the $300,000 bail set by the court. At that time, Judge Means directed ADA Smith in open court, and again in his robing room, to notify him of any delays in the Overby case, which was assigned to another judge. Schneyder alleges that Judge Means made clear that he intended to release Schneyder in the event of a continuance, and that Smith acknowledged this admonition on the record.

On February 2, 2005, the Overby trial was continued until May 25, 2005. In spite of the court's directive, Smith failed to notify Judge Means of the continuance, and Schneyder remained incarcerated.

Schneyder and various family members repeatedly telephoned ADA Smith requesting Schneyder's release, but Smith took no action. When Schneyder's father died on February 28, 2005, her sister hired attorney Paul Conway, who obtained a court order permitting Schneyder to attend her father's March 4, 2005 funeral. After obtaining the order, which permitted Schneyder to attend only a few minutes of the funeral in handcuffs, Conway learned that Judge Means had instructed ADA Smith to notify him if the Overby case was continued. Conway notified Judge Means of the continuance, and Schneyder was promptly released on March 21, 2005, 54 days after she was first detained and 48 days after the Overby case was continued.

B. Plaintiff-Appellee Korvel Odd (No. 06-4287)

Korvel Odd's experience was remarkably similar to that of Nicole Schneyder. Odd was reluctant to testify in the murder prosecution of Alvin Way, Jr. See Commonwealth v. Way, MC No. 0403-5118. Odd had witnessed events immediately preceding the murder, but when subpoenaed to testify at a preliminary hearing, he failed to appear. Consequently, Philadelphia ADA Thomas Malone sought a bench warrant for Odd's arrest. The presiding judge in Way—Judge Marsha Neifield of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas— issued a "judge-only warrant"1 pursuant to which Odd was arrested on November 17, 2004. Odd never had a bail hearing before Judge Neifield, but at ADA Malone's insistence, a trial commissioner ordered Odd to remain in custody for Way's preliminary hearing on December 7, 2004.

On December 7, 2004, Odd was transported to the courthouse, but ADA Malone never called him to testify. Judge Neifield then dismissed the case against Way for lack of evidence. Because Malone never informed Judge Neifield that Odd had been arrested, she did not know that he remained detained and took no action to release him. Consequently, Odd was returned to prison.

Odd eventually requested assistance from the Defender Association of Philadelphia, and attorney Glenn Gilman brought Odd's plight to Judge Neifield's attention. "Furious," Judge Neifield released Odd after 58 days of incarceration on January 13, 2005, and she "demanded that [Malone] appear before her to explain why . . . plaintiff had been forced to remain in jail."

In addition to their case-specific allegations, Schneyder and Odd further allege that, according to local custom and practice, the sole responsibility for tracking and monitoring the status of detained material witnesses falls to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office (DA's Office) and the individual ADAs.

C. The District Court Proceedings

Schneyder and Odd sued the DA's Office and the ADAs under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that they were detained without probable cause in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. In Schneyder's case, the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (DuBois, J.) dismissed the § 1983 claim against ADA Smith and the pendent state law claims against Smith and the DA's Office. The District Court held that Smith was entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity, and that the Pennsylvania Tort Claims Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8541, barred the state law claims against the DA's Office. Schneyder then withdrew her federal claim against the DA's Office and filed the present appeal to challenge the District Court's immunity holding.2

In Odd's case, the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Shapiro, J.) declined to dismiss the § 1983 claims against ADA Malone and the DA's Office. The District Court concluded that after Way was dismissed, "Malone was no longer acting as an advocate of the state." Malone filed an interlocutory appeal to challenge the District Court's holding that he was not entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity. See In re Montgomery County, 215 F.3d 367, 373-74 (3d Cir. 2000).

II.

In light of Schneyder's voluntary dismissal of her remaining federal claim against the DA's Office, we have jurisdiction to review the District Court's final order dismissing all of Schneyder's claims and granting Smith prosecutorial immunity. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We have jurisdiction over Malone's interlocutory appeal of the District Court's denial of prosecutorial immunity pursuant to the collateral order doctrine. Montgomery County, 215 F.3d at 373-74; Kulwicki v. Dawson, 969 F.2d 1454, 1459 (3d Cir.1992) (citing Cohen v. Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949)).

We review de novo the District Court's Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of Schneyder's complaint based on absolute immunity. Yarris, 465 F.3d at 134; Kulwicki, 969 F.2d at 1461. Likewise, our review of the District Court's denial of Malone's motion to dismiss based on prosecutorial immunity is plenary. Giuffre v. Bissell, 31 F.3d 1241, 1251 (3d Cir.1994). In both cases, we apply the same standard as the District Court, accepting as true the factual allegations in the complaint and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of Schneyder and Odd. Yarris, 465 F.3d at 134; Giuffre, 31 F.3d at 1251. We will affirm the dismissal of Schneyder's case only if it appears from her complaint that she can prove no set of facts that would entitle her to relief. Nami v. Fauver, 82 F.3d 63, 65 (3d Cir.1996). We will affirm the District Court's refusal to dismiss Odd's case so long as his complaint states a claim upon which relief can be granted. See FED. R.CIV.P. 12(b)(6).

In seeking to dismiss the suits against them, ADAs Smith and Malone invoke prosecutorial immunity. More than a mere defense to liability, prosecutorial immunity embodies the "right not to stand trial," Montgomery County, 215 F.3d at 373 (citing Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 525, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985)), and is properly raised in a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. See, e.g., Kulwicki, 969 F.2d at 1461-62.

A prosecutor bears the "heavy burden" of establishing entitlement to absolute immunity. Light v. Haws, 472 F.3d 74, 80-81 (3d Cir.2007) (quoting Forsyth v. Kleindienst, 599 F.2d 1203, 1212 (3d Cir. 1979)). In light of the Supreme Court's "quite sparing" recognition of absolute immunity to § 1983 liability, we begin with the presumption that qualified rather than absolute immunity is appropriate....

To continue reading

Request your trial
407 cases
  • Lokuta v. Sallemi
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Pennsylvania
    • October 9, 2013
    ...(E.D. Pa. Apr. 27, 2006). "A prosecutor bears the 'heavy burden' of establishing entitlement to absolute immunity." Odd v. Malone, 538 F.3d 202, 207 (3d Cir. 2008) (citations omitted). The Third Circuit instructs the court to start with the presumption that qualified, not absolute, immunity......
  • Swope v. City of Pittsburgh
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Pennsylvania
    • February 5, 2015
    ...... Odd v. Malone, 538 F.3d 202, 205 (3d Cir.2008). The Court, however, need not accept bald assertions or inferences drawn by the plaintiff if they are unsupported by the facts set forth in the complaint. See California Publ. Employees' Ret. Sys. v. The Chubb Corp., 394 F.3d 126, 143 (3d Cir.2004), citing ......
  • Fogle v. Sokol
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)
    • April 20, 2020
    ......And while "[i]t is tempting to derive bright-line rules" from the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence, we have "cautioned against such categorical reasoning" to "preserve the fact-based nature of the inquiry." Odd v. Malone , 538 F.3d 202, 210 (3d Cir. 2008) ; see also Imbler , 424 U.S. at 431 n.33, 96 S.Ct. 984. As a result, "our prosecutorial immunity analysis focuses on the unique facts of each case and requires careful dissection of the prosecutor’s actions." Odd , 538 F.3d at 210. Although the fair ......
  • Ekwunife v. City of Phila.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    • March 24, 2017
    ......Smith , 653 F.3d 313, 332 (3d Cir. 2011) (quoting Odd v. Malone , 538 F.3d 202, 208 (3d Cir. 2008) ). A court's analysis of absolute immunity has two steps: first, "[t]he court must ascertain just what conduct forms the basis for the plaintiff's cause of action," and second, "it must then determine what function (prosecutorial, administrative, investigative, ......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT