Ricks v. Pauch
| Decision Date | 02 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 17-12784 |
| Parties | DESMOND RICKS, AKILAH COBB, and DESIRE'A RICKS, Plaintiffs, v. DAVID PAUCH, DONALD STAWIASZ, and ROBERT B. WILSON, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Michigan |
OPINION AND ORDER (1) DENYING DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT (ECF NO. 91), AND (2) DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT (ECF NO. 92)
Plaintiff Desmond Ricks ("Ricks") was released from prison in 2017 after serving 25 years on a wrongful conviction for murder. Ricks and his two adult daughters have filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the City of Detroit and three City of Detroit police officers alleging violations of Ricks' constitutional rights based upon alleged fabrication and withholding of evidence. The City of Detroit has since been dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a Stipulated Order of Dismissal. Now before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment: (1) Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to Defendants David Pauch and Robert Wilson; and (2) Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. These motions were fully briefed and the Court held a hearing on November 13, 2019. For the reasons that follow, the Court DENIES both motions.
On March 3, 1992, at approximately 4:45 p.m., Gerry Bennett was shot to death in the parking lot of a Top Hat restaurant located at 16101 James Couzens, in the City of Detroit. (ECF No. 37, First Amended Complaint ("FAC") ¶ 9; ECF 91-31, Homicide Scene Investigation.) Plaintiff Desmond Ricks, a friend of Bennett's, had accompanied Bennett to the Top Hat restaurant in a red Ford Escort, driven by Bennett. (FAC ¶ 10; ECF No. 91-10, Desmond Ricks Deposition Tr. at p. 132.) The parties dispute whether Ricks accompanied Bennett into the restaurant and Ricks' possible involvement in Bennett's murder.
According to Ricks, shortly after arriving at Top Hat, a yellow Chevrolet Monte Carlo pulled up next to the Ford Escort he and Bennett were in. Bennett got out of the Escort and entered the restaurant with a light-skinned black man of medium height who got out of the back seat of the Monte Carlo. (Ricks Dep. at pp. 137-42; Homicide Scene Investigation at pp. 3-4.) Ricks remained in the front passenger seat of the Escort. (Ricks Dep. at p. 142.) When Bennett and the otherman exited the restaurant about five to ten minutes later, Ricks saw the light-skinned black man point a chrome handgun at Bennett and shoot him in the stomach. (Id. at pp. 144-45.) As Ricks got out of the Escort, he saw the other man shoot Bennett in the head, then turn to shoot at Ricks. (Id. at p. 146.)
According to Defendants, Ricks was Bennett's middleman who arranged drug deals for Bennett, but the Top Hat drug deal was a set up. When Bennett and Ricks arrived at Top Hat, Bennett had cocaine on his person and more cocaine in a Girl Scout cookie box hidden under Ricks' seat in the car. (Defs.' Mot. S.J. at p. 3, citing ECF Nos. 91-6, 91-25 through 91-29, Prison phone call recordings.) Defendants contend that Ricks accompanied Bennett into the restaurant, where Bennett ordered food. (Trial Tr. Vol. 2, Ollie McAdoo Testimony at pp. 85-87.) After Ricks and Bennett stepped back outside the restaurant, they engaged in an argument and Bennett was shot. Defendants assert that at the time of the shooting, Bennett's vehicle was the only vehicle in the parking lot.
The parties agree that immediately following the shooting, Ricks ran into an adjacent neighborhood, shedding his winter coat as he ran. Ricks asserts that he shed his coat to avoid it being caught in bushes as he ran (Ricks Dep. at p. 153), while Defendants contend that Ricks discarded his coat and hat in an attempt to hide his identity. Defendants state that Ricks made no attempt to notify the police of the shooting but instead hid and did not initially tell his friends or family that he was present when Bennett was shot. (Trial Tr. Vol.4 Ricks Testimony at pp. 26-28, 82-84, 94; Ricks Dep. at p. 160.) The parties agree that Ricks' coat was later found by Detroit Police Department ("DPD") officers, and that it contained Ricks' visitor's pass to Hutzel Hospital in the jacket pocket, where his girlfriend had just given birth to their daughter, Plaintiff Desire'a. The coat also contained a phone book and a picture of his newborn baby. (Ricks Dep. at p. 165; Homicide Scene Investigation; ECF No. 91-40, Evid. Prop. Sheet at p. 3; ECF No. 91-41, Evid. Tech. Rpt. at p. 1; Trial Tr. Vol. 4 Ricks Testimony at pp. 5-6.)
A hospital physician declared Bennett "dead on arrival." Assistant Medical Examiner, Dr. Sawait Kanluen, performed an autopsy on Bennett's body on March 4, 1992. Dr. Kanluen described two gunshot wounds. He retrieved one bullet from Bennett's brain, where it lodged after penetrating his skull, and retrieved a second bullet lodged in Bennett's spine. (Id.) Dr. Kanluen placed each bullet (or slug) in a separate, small bullet envelope, and turned those evidence bullets over to the liaison DPD officer assigned to the Medical Examiner's Office, homicide sergeant James Covington. (Trial Tr. Vol. 3 Covington Testimony at pp. 18-19.) Covington in turn delivered the bullets to Defendant Donald Stawiasz, assigned as the Officer-In-Charge of the investigation. (Id.; ECF No. 91-47, Donald Stawiasz Deposition Tr. at p. 62.) Stawiasz placed the smaller bullet envelopes intolarger evidence envelopes, with the slug recovered from the head on evidence tag #923409, and the slug recovered from the spine on evidence tag #923410. (Trial Tr. Vol. 3 Stawiasz Testimony at pp. 31-32; Stawiasz Dep. at p. 111; Prelim. Exam. Tr. Covington Testimony at p. 36.) Those slugs were delivered, on Stawiasz's request, to Defendant Pauch, a firearm and tool-mark examiner in the Detroit Crime Lab. (ECF No. 91-61, Pauch & Wilson Firearms Identification Report.)
On March 5, 1992, Detroit Police Officers, a federal ATF agent, and a Deputy U.S. Marshal, none of whom are defendants in this case, arrived at Ricks' mother's house at 16500 Hubbell Street in Detroit. The officers did not have an arrest warrant or search warrant, but Mary Ricks, Plaintiff Desmond Ricks' mother, allowed the officers into the residence. (Id.; Prelim. Exam. Tr. P.O. Fleming Testimony at p. 34.) Ricks was arrested without incident. Ricks' mother stated that her son was not involved in any murder and that the only firearm in the house was a gun she owned, which she kept in her bedroom under her pillow. (Id.) Ms. Ricks allowed the officers to take her handgun,a Rossi .38 Special, 5-shot revolver, serial # D373334 ("the Rossi handgun"). (Id.) The officers placed the Rossi handgun on evidence tag #923423. (Id.) Ricks was conveyed to the Homicide Section for questioning, and the Rossi handgun was turned over to the Homicide Section for ballistics testing. (Primak Statement.)
On March 6, 1992, the day after Ricks was arrested, Defendant Stawiasz requested that firearm testing be conducted on the Rossi handgun taken from Ricks' home, to compare test-fired bullets to the slugs removed from Gerry Bennett's body. (ECF No. 92-5, Request for Lab. Serv.) As Defendants explain:
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