Tyler v. Harper

Decision Date23 October 1984
Docket NumberNo. 84-1006,84-1006
Citation744 F.2d 653
PartiesMelvin Leroy TYLER, Appellant, v. Milt HARPER, Cris Egbert and Gary McConnell, Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

John Ashcroft, Atty. Gen., Kelly Mescher, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, Mo., for appellees.

Thompson & Mitchell, Donald J. Stohr, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee Gary McConnell.

Melvin Leroy Tyler, pro se.

Kortenhof & Ely, John G. Enright, St. Louis, Mo., for appellee Chris Egbert.

Before BRIGHT, JOHN R. GIBSON and BOWMAN, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

Melvin Leroy Tyler appeals from the district court's 1 entry of summary judgment against him in this civil rights action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982). For reversal Tyler argues that the district court (1) incorrectly applied the doctrine of collateral estoppel to bar his claims of witness intimidation and destruction of exculpatory evidence; (2) erred in denying him an opportunity to respond to appellee McConnell's motion for summary judgment; and (3) erred in failing to mail him copies of its orders granting summary judgment against him. We affirm the grant of summary judgment as to all three appellees.

In 1977 Tyler was convicted in Missouri circuit court of first-degree robbery, rape, kidnapping and armed criminal action. The conviction was affirmed on appeal. State v. Tyler, 587 S.W.2d 918 (Mo.Ct.App.1979).

In 1980 Tyler filed this section 1983 action against Milt Harper, the former prosecuting attorney for Boone County, Missouri, who prosecuted the case against him, Gary McConnell, an investigator for the Boone County prosecutor's office who assisted Harper in investigating the case, and Cris Egbert, a Columbia, Missouri police officer who also assisted in the investigation. Tyler alleged in his complaint that Harper, McConnell and Egbert had interfered with his right to a fair trial by intimidating and harassing several alibi witnesses. He further alleged that Harper and McConnell erased recorded tapes that were exculpatory evidence.

On December 7, 1983, the district court entered summary judgment for all three defendants, finding that since the issues of witness intimidation and destruction of evidence had been fully litigated and decided in Tyler's state criminal proceeding, Tyler was barred by collateral estoppel from relitigating them. This appeal followed.

I. THE GRANT OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THE GROUND OF COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL

In reviewing a grant of summary judgment, this court applies the same standard as does the district court: summary judgment should be granted only if "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P 56(c). In applying this standard, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, giving that party the benefit of all inferences that may be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Elbe v. Yankton Independent School District No. 1, 714 F.2d 848, 850 (8th Cir.1983).

Tyler argues that the district court erred in granting summary judgment because there are several issues of material fact. He also argues that the court erred, as a matter of law, by misapplying the doctrine of collateral estoppel to bar his claims.

Two recent Supreme Court cases govern our review of Tyler's collateral estoppel argument. Allen v. McCurry, 449 U.S. 90, 101 S.Ct. 411, 66 L.Ed.2d 308 (1980), made clear that collateral estoppel can bar the relitigation of constitutional claims in a section 1983 action when they were fully and fairly litigated and decided in a prior state criminal proceeding. Further, Migra v. Warren City School District Board of Education, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 892, 79 L.Ed.2d 56, 61 (1984), emphasized that the Full Faith and Credit Statute, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1738 (1982), requires federal courts to give the same preclusive effect to a state court judgment as would the state's own courts. Here, since Tyler was convicted in Missouri circuit court, we must apply the Missouri standard for collateral estoppel. In Missouri, the appropriateness of the application of collateral estoppel by a stranger to the prior suit is to be determined on a case-by-case basis. The court is to consider whether: (1) the issue decided in the prior adjudication is identical to the issue in the present action; (2) the prior adjudication resulted in a judgment on the merits; (3) the party against whom collateral estoppel is asserted was a party or in privity with a party to the prior adjudication; and (4) the party against whom collateral estoppel is asserted had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the prior suit. Oates v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America, 583 S.W.2d 713, 719 (Mo.1979) (en banc); Retirement Board of the Police Retirement System v. Noel, 652 S.W.2d 874, 877-78 (Mo.Ct.App.1983).

A. The Witness Intimidation Claim

Tyler contends that Harper, Egbert and McConnell interfered with his right to a fair trial by harassing and intimidating several of his alibi witnesses. Harper, Egbert and McConnell argue that this witness intimidation claim was fully litigated and resolved against Tyler in the state criminal proceeding.

Before his trial commenced, Tyler filed a motion to dismiss the prosecution on several grounds, including "for proceeding with dirty hands of the prosecutor, and police allowing intimidation, threating (sic), and harassment of the defendant's alibi witnesses." Judge Kinder, the state circuit judge who presided over Tyler's trial, held a two-day hearing on the motion during which Tyler, with the aid of four attorneys, represented himself on a pro se basis. 2 Tyler presented eleven witnesses at the hearing. Of the eleven witnesses, six denied being intimidated by the police, and the remaining five were prisoners at the time of the hearing. Judge Kinder denied the motion to dismiss. Tyler raised the witness intimidation claim again in his motion for a new trial, and in denying the motion Judge Kinder stated, "There was an abundance of evidence in the record on this, of purported threats of that nature to each and every one of your witnesses which the jury didn't choose to believe and I don't tend to believe it either."

On appeal, Tyler argued that Judge Kinder committed reversible error in denying the pre-trial motion to dismiss. The Missouri Court of Appeals rejected this argument, finding that it did not have to decide whether intimidation of defense witnesses is a ground for dismissal of a prosecution, because the trial court found the allegations of intimidation not credible. Tyler, 587 S.W.2d at 933.

Applying the Missouri standard for collateral estoppel, see Oates, 583 S.W.2d at 719, we conclude that a Missouri court would bar Tyler from relitigating the witness intimidation claim. The factual issue decided in the criminal proceeding is identical to one in this section 1983 action: whether Harper, Egbert and McConnell actually intimidated or harassed Tyler's alibi witnesses. The state trial judge concluded that they did not. Tyler's conviction was a judgment on the merits affirmed on appeal. Tyler had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the criminal case: Judge Kinder conducted a two-day hearing during which Tyler presented and extensively questioned eleven witnesses about the alleged intimidation. 3

The state court gave Tyler an opportunity to prove that the appellees intimidated his alibi witnesses and he failed; we cannot grant him a second opportunity in this section 1983 action. See Migra, 104 S.Ct. at 897.

After viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Tyler and after giving him the benefit of all reasonable inferences, we conclude that the district court did not err in determining that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to the witness intimidation claim. The state court resolved all genuine issues of material fact in the criminal proceeding, and the doctrine of collateral estoppel bars relitigation of the issue.

B. The Destruction of Exculpatory Evidence Claim

Tyler next argues that Harper and McConnell violated his constitutional rights by destroying exculpatory evidence: two cassette tapes which he alleges contained a statement by the rape victim that she had misidentified Tyler as her assailant. Harper and McConnell argue that this claim was also fully litigated and resolved against Tyler in the criminal proceeding.

On May 10, 1977, shortly before his trial commenced, Tyler moved to dismiss the prosecution on the ground that state law enforcement officers had stolen cassette tapes from him. Judge Kinder held a hearing on this motion on May 26, 1977, and the following day he issued an order requiring F. Metcalfe, a deputy at the St. Louis City jail where Tyler had been detained after his arrest, to deliver two cassette tapes to Tyler. What happened to the tapes after this date is unclear. Tyler alleges that on May 31, 1977, Metcalfe brought the tapes to the Platte County jail where he was confined at the time and that Harper and McConnell intercepted them, erased the rape victim's statement, and then returned them to Tyler. Harper and McConnell deny this allegation.

On June 1, 1977, Tyler appeared before Judge Kinder and informed him that the tapes had been erased. Tyler further stated that the tapes were important because they contained conversations between himself and his lawyer in which he outlined his trial strategy. Judge Kinder responded that he did not know what relevance the tapes had to Tyler's case and that he had done all he could to get them produced. Later, in his motion for a new trial which was denied, Tyler argued that he should have been granted a new trial because "the state prosecutor" (Harper) and "his...

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