Porter v. Daggett Cnty.
| Decision Date | 16 February 2022 |
| Docket Number | 2:18-cv-00389-DBB |
| Parties | DUSTIN LAW PORTER, STEVEN DROLLETTE, JOSHUA ASAY, and JOSHUA OLSEN, Plaintiffs, v. DAGGETT COUNTY, UTAH et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Utah |
Defendants Daggett County, Sheriff Erik Bailey in his official capacity and former Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen move for summary judgment on the claims against them.[1] For the reasons stated below, the court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the motion.
From 2011 to 2017, Jerry Jorgensen served as Daggett County Sheriff[2] He also served personally as Jail Commander from 2008 until 2015 before appointing Benjamin Lail as Jail Commander in November or December of 2014.[3] After 2015, Jorgensen visited the jail about once a week and did not frequently interact with inmates or supervise the corrections officers, control room workers, or sergeants at the jail.[4] Lail and another officer, Dale Bingham, were the Taser trainers for Daggett County; they were sent to a third-party Taser training and then returned to Daggett County to train others.[5]Lail and Bingham conducted Taser training for more than ten other officers while they worked at the jail.[6] Daggett County conducted Taser training in January 2016.[7]
Jorgensen knew about the general conditions at the jail and would occasionally hear complaints from officers.[8] Jorgensen "heard rumblings" that guards slept during night shifts at the jail and that guards were watching television during their shifts.[9] In response, he told Lail that that sleeping on the job was not permissible and left Lail to deal with it.[10] Jorgensen also knew that guards would watch television during their shifts.[11] Jorgensen knew that the some of the guards would engage in horseplay and wrestling with each other while at the jail and that in early 2016 Lail "goosed" another officer.[12] Jorgensen characterized the behavior as "boys playing" and recalled that he probably had "the county attorney look at it."[13] Finally Jorgensen heard a couple of reports of inmates washing officers' personal vehicles.[14] Although the county did not have a policy against inmates washing officers' personal vehicles, Jorgensen "didn't allow it" and "dealt with it informally."[15] Joshua Cox was hired as a deputy at the jail in 2015.[16] Cox testified that on his first day working at the jail, Lail told him that "it was a relaxed environment and ... if [he] needed to take a nap during [his] night shift, that was common practice."[17] Cox saw that it was commonplace for the guards at the jail, including Lail, to hit or pretend to hit each other in the genitals[18] and that Lail "often played around with [Tasers] and acted like he was going to . . tase the other officers."[19]
Dogs were occasionally present at the jail. A nighttime controller was allowed to bring her dog into the jail control room.[20] Lail would bring his personal dog to work, and the dog would hang out in front of the jail.[21] Cox would bring his police dog into a fenced-in area behind the jail and work on training his dog there.[22] Jorgensen knew that Cox was training his police dog behind the jail.[23]
In April 2016, Jane Doe 2, a teacher who taught inmates at the jail, emailed Jorgensen to inform him about an incident between her and Lail.[24] Doe stated that Lail made "wise-crack comments" while she was on the phone in the jail control room, yelled at her to "[g]et back to class and teach!", and then turned on a Taser and pointed it at the ground directly in front of her feet.[25] She described Lail's behavior as "extremely unprofessional and unacceptable; not to mention intimidating and frightening."[26] Jorgensen responded by calling Lail into his office, telling Lail that the behavior was unacceptable, and asking Lail to apologize to Doe.[27] He characterized the incident as "horseplay."[28] Cox testified that he had heard about the incident between Lail and Doe and had seen Lail act like he was going to tase "just about everybody" at the jail.[29]
Three months later, in July 2016, Brian Thompson, a deputy at the jail, met with Jorgensen to discuss concerns that he had about Lail.[30] Thompson testified that he discussed an incident in which he witnessed Lail hit an inmate in the genitals, incidents of Lail calling inmates names, and occurrences of deputies wrestling with inmates.[31] Thompson also talked to Jorgensen about concerns that Lail had been falsifying his time cards and that jail employees were driving drunk.[32] Thompson stated he was not aware of Jorgensen taking any action after this meeting.[33]Cox also testified that he reported to Deputy Sheriff Chris Collett that he witnessed Lail getting out of his vehicle with an open container but that nothing ever came of his report.[34] Cox stated that Lail later pulled him into his office and said "I know what you did."[35]
On August 27, 2016, during a jail barbeque, Cox tased five inmates in the jail's garage in front of two other deputies, Logan Walker and Rodrigo Toledo.[36] On October 17, 2016, Cox tased inmate Joshua Olsen in the wood shop as an initiation to the work crew, which was required to keep his outside work privileges.[37] There is footage from January 2017 of Cox using inmates to train his police dog in the jail's chapel.[38] At some point after Adam Gonzalez was appointed sergeant at the jail in January 2017, he heard a report from a jail controller that Cox was having an inmate hold a dog bite guard to train his dog-Gonzalez testified that he told Cox to stop and reported the incident to Lail.[39]
Plaintiff Steven Drollette, a former inmate at Daggett County Jail, wrote a letter to Jorgensen on December 31, 2016 that Jorgensen received on January 10, 2017.[40] The letter alleged serious misconduct by correctional officers at Daggett County Jail, including allegations that Joshua Cox tased inmates.[41] Upon receiving the letter from Drollette, Jorgensen and Collett contacted the Utah Department of Corrections ("UDOC") to request a formal investigation.[42]UDOC began its investigation, and on January 31, 2017 Cox reportedly told inmates in the wood shop not to talk to investigators if anyone asked about anything to do with the tasings.[43] On February 1, 2017, Jorgensen, Collett, and the UDOC investigator agreed that Cox should be placed on administrative leave, and Cox was placed on leave that day.[44]
During the course of the UDOC investigation, the Department of Corrections found evidence of Cox tasing inmates in front of other correctional officers and requiring inmates to participate in training his police dog.[45] Specifically, the report found that on August 27, 2016, "Cox tased inmates without provocation, using a stolen taser," that "Cox also required inmates to participate in training for his police service dog," and that" Cox was seen on camera assaulting inmates."[46] The report further found "[n]umerous policy violations" and that "[s]ome officers appear to lack appropriate staff/offender boundaries."[47] Finally, the report indicated that some [48] Ultimately, the "numerous policy and criminal violations uncovered throughout the investigation led to the removal of all Utah State inmates from the Daggett County Jail."[49]
Since the investigation, Cox pled guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, transport of a weapon into a secure area, and theft.[50] Lail pled guilty to one count of reckless endangerment.[51]Jorgensen entered a guilty plea in abeyance for one count of official misconduct.[52] Jorgensen's plea admits: "On or about January 2014 through April 2017; [I] did, with the intent to benefit myself or another, knowingly refrain from performing a duty imposed on me by law or clearly inherent in the nature of my office as Daggett County Sheriff"[53] The plea goes on to state that Jorgensen "failed to investigate, discipline, or otherwise supervise deputies under his control, and failed to investigate criminal conduct that occurred at the Daggett County Jail."[54] Daggett County has not operated a jail since April 2017.[55] Plaintiffs Porter, Drollette, Asay, and Olsen-former prisoners at Daggett County Jail- brought this civil-rights suit against Daggett County; Utah Department of Corrections Director Mike Haddon in his official capacity; current Daggett County Sheriff Eric Bailey in his official capacity; caseworker Jeffery Toone in his official capacity; and Jorgensen, Cox, Lail, Walker, and Toledo in their personal capacities. Plaintiffs' allegations include that Cox tased all four of them[56] and that Cox forced Porter, Drollette, and Olsen to participate in training his dog and ordered his dog to attack them.[57]
All defendants except Daggett County, Bailey, and Jorgensen have either defaulted, settled, or been dismissed. The three remaining defendants have moved for summary judgment on the claims against them.
A court grants summary judgment if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.[58] Summary judgment is inappropriate if any material factual issue "may reasonably be resolved in favor of any party."[59] The moving party is also entitled to summary judgment if "the nonmoving party fails to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of her case with respect to which she has the burden of proof"[60]Both evidence and reasonable inferences drawn from that evidence are construed in the light most...
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