Ray v. Pickett

• Decision Date: 14 May 1984
• Docket Number: No. 82-2072,82-2072
• Citation: 734 F.2d 370
• Parties: John Larry RAY, Appellant, v. Patricia PICKETT, J. Alan MacDoniel, U.S. Parole Commissioner, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 370

734 F.2d 370

John Larry RAY, Appellant, v. Patricia PICKETT, J. Alan MacDoniel, U.S. Parole Commissioner, Appellees.

No. 82-2072.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Dec. 12, 1983.

Decided May 14, 1984.

Thomas E. Dittmeier, U.S. Atty., Joseph B. Moore, Asst. U.S. Atty., St. Louis, Mo., for appellees.

Francis E. Pennington, III, Lewis, Rice, Tucker, Allen & Chubb, St. Louis, Mo., for appellant.

Before HEANEY, ROSS and FAGG, Circuit Judges.

FAGG, Circuit Judge.

The sole issue presented in this appeal is the scope of immunity to be afforded federal probation officers in a constitutional damages suit arising from acts performed in their official capacities. John Larry Ray brought this action for damages against two federal probation officers who were supervising Ray's parole. Ray contends, among other things, that the probation officers violated his constitutional rights by intentionally falsifying a report to the United States Parole Commission on June 29, 1979, to secure a parole violator's warrant. The district court dismissed Ray's claim, holding that the probation officers were absolutely immune from liability because they were performing discretionary duties within the framework of an adjudicatory process. We reverse.

The Supreme Court has consistently held that government officials are entitled to some type of immunity from suits for damages. "[P]ublic officers require this protection to shield them from undue interference with their duties and from potentially disabling threats of liability." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 806, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2732, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Two types of immunity defenses have generally been recognized: absolute immunity and qualified immunity. Absolute immunity defeats a suit at the outset, provided that the official's actions are within the scope of the immunity. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 419 n. 13, 96 S.Ct. 984, 989 n. 13, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976). Qualified immunity is asserted as a defense, and shields government officials performing discretionary functions from civil liability if their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, supra, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2738.

"[O]fficials whose special functions or constitutional status require[ ] complete protection from suit" are accorded absolute immunity. Id. at 807, 102 S.Ct. at 2732. Absolute immunity from suit has been accorded to judges, Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, 98 S.Ct. 1099, 55 L.Ed.2d 331 (1978), prosecutors, Imbler v. Pachtman, supra, legislators, Eastland v. United States Servicemen's Fund, 421 U.S. 491, 95 S.Ct. 1813, 44 L.Ed.2d 324 (1975), and to federal agency officials who perform adjudicatory or prosecutorial functions. Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978). The Supreme Court has been cautious in extending the protection of absolute immunity, and has noted that "federal officials who seek absolute exemption from personal liability for unconstitutional conduct must bear the burden of showing that public policy requires an exemption of that scope." Id. at 506, 98 S.Ct. at 2911.

The Supreme Court has provided that qualified immunity from damages liability is the general rule for executive officials charged with constitutional violations. Id. at 507, 98 S.Ct. at 2911. Qualified immunity is an attempted balance of the competing values of protecting individuals' constitutional rights and protecting officials who are required to exercise their discretion, in order to encourage the vigorous exercise of official authority. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, supra, 457 U.S. at 813-14, 102 S.Ct. at 2736; Butz v. Economou, supra, 438 U.S. at 506, 98 S.Ct. at 2910.

Both the Supreme Court and this court have expressly reserved judgment on the question of what immunity, if any, a probation or parole officer has in a damages action where a constitutional violation is made out by the allegations. See Martinez v. California, 444 U.S. 277, 285 n. 11, 100 S.Ct. 553, 559 n. 11, 62 L.Ed.2d 481 (1980); DeShields v. United States Parole Commission, 593 F.2d 354, 356 (8th Cir.1979); Kelsey v. Minnesota, 565 F.2d 503, 507 n. 4 (8th Cir.1977). In recent decisions, the Supreme Court has emphasized a "functional" approach to immunity law. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, supra, 457 U.S. at 810, 102 S.Ct. at 2734. Thus, the scope of immunity accorded a particular official is not dependent upon his or her location within the government, but rather upon the special nature of the official's responsibilities. See Butz v. Economou, supra, 438 U.S. at 511-12, 98 S.Ct. at 2913-14. See also Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731, 744-48, 102 S.Ct. 2690, 2699-01, 73 L.Ed.2d 349 (1982). Under this approach, certain adjudicatory or prosecutorial functions of a probation officer may be entitled to absolute immunity, while other functions, more administrative, supervisory, or investigative in nature, may warrant only a qualified immunity. See Harlow v. Fitzgerald, supra, 457 U.S. at 811, 102 S.Ct. at 2735; Briggs v. Goodwin, 569 F.2d 10, 22-23 (D.C.Cir.1977), cert. denied, 437 U.S. 904, 98 S.Ct. 3089, 57 L.Ed.2d 1133 (1978) (prosecutorial immunity extends to some, but not all, official functions).

We limit our inquiry to the immunity afforded a federal probation officer's action in filing a report with the United States Parole Commission to secure a parole violator's warrant. We must, then, examine the role played by the probation officer in the parole revocation process. If it appears that a parolee has violated the conditions of parole, it is the probation officer's function to submit a report concerning such an alleged violation to the parole commission. If satisfactory evidence of such a violation is presented, the commission may issue a summons requiring the offender to appear for a preliminary interview or local revocation hearing or issue a warrant for the return of the offender to custody. 28 C.F.R. Sec. 2.44. Once a warrant has been issued, the parolee is afforded a preliminary interview before a probation officer, other than the officer who recommended that the warrant issue, to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that there is a violation of the parole as charged. 28 C.F.R. Sec. 2.48. If the interviewing officer finds that there is probable cause for the warrant to issue and a revocation hearing is ordered, the parolee is afforded a revocation hearing before a hearing examiner or examiner panel, at which the parolee may present witnesses and documentary evidence on his behalf. 28 C.F.R. Secs. 2.49-50. Finally, there is a provision for administrative review of the hearing examiner's decision with the National Appeals Board. 28 C.F.R. Sec. 2.54. From these regulations it is clear that the reporting probation officer has no part in making the decision to initiate a parole revocation proceeding.

Our first task is to determine whether the described function of the probation officer is adjudicatory in nature, thus warranting an immunity similar to that afforded to judges. Several other courts have considered this issue. In Burkes v. Callion, 433 F.2d 318 (9th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 908, 91 S.Ct. 2217, 29 L.Ed.2d 685, the Ninth Circuit held that a state probation officer in preparing and submitting a presentence probation report in a criminal case was performing a judicially related function and was entitled to an immunity comparable to that accorded to judges in the exercise of their judicial duties. Id. 433 F.2d at 319. In Spaulding v. Nielsen, 599 F.2d 728 (5th Cir.1979), the Fifth Circuit held that a federal probation officer was entitled to absolute immunity in preparing and submitting a presentence report. The court noted that the presentence report was an integral part of the sentencing process and was prepared at the direction of the court. Therefore, the court concluded that this narrow function was "intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process" and that probation officers should enjoy absolute immunity for activities "within this protected function." The court expressly reserved the decision of "whether immunity will shield probation officers from civil liability for official activities apart from the presentence report process." Id. at 729 n. 2. The Fifth Circuit has recently reaffirmed the absolute immunity of probation officers from damages liability in the presentence report process. Maynard v. Havenstrite, 727 F.2d 439, 441 (5th Cir.1984).

Despite the decision in Spaulding, the Fifth Circuit has accorded only qualified immunity to a state probation officer in a context closely analogous to the instant case. See Galvan v. Garmon, 710 F.2d 214 (5th Cir.1983), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 2150, 80 L.Ed.2d 536, 35 Crim.L.Rep. 4021 (1984). In Galvan, the probation officer mistakenly believed that a probationer had been arrested for driving while intoxicated and unlawfully carrying a weapon. Based on this mistaken information, the officer prepared a motion to revoke Galvan's probation, and an arrest warrant was issued. Galvan brought a section 1983 action, claiming that the probation officer had violated his constitutional rights by erroneously causing his arrest and incarceration. The court concluded that the probation officer was entitled only to qualified immunity. Particular emphasis was given to Harlow v. Fitzgerald, supra, in which the Supreme Court "noted that absolute immunity for judicial functions 'has extended no further than its justification would warrant.' " Galvan v. Garmon, supra, 710 F.2d at 215, quoting Harlow v. Fitzgerald, supra, 457 U.S. at 811, 102 S.Ct. at 2735. The Fifth Circuit in Galvan distinguished its earlier decision in Spaulding, noting that in Spaulding the probation officer was acting at the direction of the court during the presentence report...