FUENTES, Circuit Judge.
Rashied Goodwin was arrested pursuant to a warrant for allegedly selling heroin to an undercover police officer. A grand jury indicted him but the charges were eventually dropped. Goodwin then brought this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 lawsuit for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution against the three detectives involved in securing his arrest warrant. He claims that the detectives submitted a false warrant application because they knew or should have known that he was in jail at the time of one of the undercover drug deals. He argues that his incarceration was evident from a booking sheet the detectives had when they applied for his arrest warrant. The detectives moved for summary judgment and asserted a qualified immunity defense.
The District Court denied the detectives' motion, holding that there was a genuine
At oral argument before this Court, defense counsel conceded that the detectives were indeed aware of the booking sheet before submitting the warrant application. The only issue we must decide is whether that booking sheet and any inferences derived therefrom preclude a finding of probable cause. We conclude that they do not. Despite the booking sheet, the detectives had probable cause when they applied for Goodwin's arrest warrant, and they are therefore entitled to qualified immunity. Accordingly, we will reverse the order of the District Court.
In late September 2009, the Somerset County Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force learned from a confidential informant that an individual known as "Snipe" was selling heroin in the Watchung/North Plainfield area of New Jersey. At some point during the week of September 27, 2009, Detective Lissner, acting undercover, accompanied the confidential informant to buy heroin from Snipe in a Sears parking lot in Watchung at approximately 3:30 p.m. Snipe approached Lissner's car and handed the drugs to the confidential informant through the front passenger side window. Lissner asked Snipe if he could make future buys from him without the confidential informant present. Snipe said that was fine and gave Lissner his cell phone number. In his follow-up report, Detective Lissner described Snipe as a "black male."
Through a series of phone calls and text messages, Detective Lissner set up a second buy from Snipe on October 16, 2009, again in the Sears parking lot. This time, Snipe sat down in the front passenger seat of Lissner's car and handed Lissner the drugs. Following the exchange, Snipe drove out of the parking lot and headed towards Plainfield. Detective Lissner provided no physical description of Snipe in his follow-up report.
Two other members of the Task Force, Detective Conway and Detective Sidorski, observed the drug deals from afar.
The Task Force worked to identify "Snipe." They contacted Lieutenant O'Brien in the Plainfield Police Department, who advised the detectives that he knew "Snipe" as Rashied Goodwin. In his deposition, O'Brien testified that he had previously interacted with Goodwin "on the street," and that the only person he knew who uses the alias "Snipe" is Goodwin.
On November 13, 2009, Detective Conway obtained a photograph of Goodwin from the Union County jail. His investigation report indicates that he reached out to staff at the jail because he learned that Goodwin had recently been arrested and
The detectives prepared an affidavit of probable cause for Goodwin's arrest. The affidavit itself refers only to the second drug buy on October 16, 2009. But the affidavit was submitted with a packet of supporting documents that included, among other things: (1) the detectives' investigation reports describing the first and second drug buys, (2) a supplementary investigation report explaining that the Plainfield Police Department indicated "Snipe" may be Rashied Goodwin's alias and that Detective Lissner positively identified a photograph of Goodwin as Snipe, and (3) a copy of the photograph of Goodwin with Detective Lissner's initials.
On November 25, 2009, a warrant was issued for Goodwin's arrest. Because Goodwin was incarcerated on other charges at the time, Detective Conway faxed the arrest warrant to Union County jail as a detainer. Goodwin was unaware of these charges until the end of December 2009, when he was released from custody and then immediately rearrested. In January 2010, a grand jury returned an indictment for Goodwin, charging him with knowingly and purposefully distributing heroin, and with distributing heroin within 1,000 feet of a school.
Some time after the indictment was issued, Goodwin told his public defender that he had been incarcerated from September 26, 2009 through [ ].
The dispute in this case concerns a booking sheet from the Plainfield Police Department in Goodwin's Somerset County case file.
Goodwin brought this § 1983 action against Detective Conway, Detective Lissner, and Detective Sidorski ("Defendants") for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The crux of Goodwin's claim is that Defendants omitted from the warrant application "potential alibi" information derived from the Plainfield booking sheet regarding his incarceration on the date of the first drug buy. Neither party disputes that the "Snipe" who sold drugs to the undercover officer in the first drug buy was the same "Snipe" who sold drugs in the second drug buy. Thus if Goodwin was incarcerated during the first drug buy, he could not have been the "Snipe" involved in the second drug buy.
Defendants moved for summary judgment, arguing that they had probable cause to arrest Goodwin and that, even if the court found no probable cause, they would still be entitled to qualified immunity. The District Court denied Defendants' motion, and Defendants appealed.
In this case, Defendants challenge the District Court's conclusion that the existence of a particular factual dispute precluded summary judgment on the issue of whether Defendants had probable cause to arrest Goodwin. In our view, this is a legal issue, not a factual one.
Public officials are entitled to qualified immunity unless their conduct violated a clearly established constitutional right.
"[P]robable cause to arrest exists when the facts and circumstances within the arresting officer's knowledge are sufficient in themselves to warrant a reasonable person to believe that an offense has been or is being committed by the person to be arrested."
Goodwin's main contention is that Defendants submitted a false warrant application and had no probable cause to arrest him. Specifically, Goodwin claims that the booking sheet that Defendants had in their possession made clear that he was in jail when the first drug sale to Detective Lissner took place. We note, however, that the supporting documents attached to the affidavit of probable clause included a detailed description of the investigation of "Snipe," explained that another law enforcement officer indicated that "Snipe" may be Goodwin, and explained that Detective Lissner positively identified a photograph of Goodwin as "Snipe," the person from whom he bought drugs. This information was sufficient to lead a reasonable person to believe Goodwin had committed the offense.
The mere existence of an arrest warrant, however, does not shield an officer from liability for false arrest. In Wilson v. Russo,
Goodwin's argument rests on two alternative assertions: (1) the booking sheet is plainly exculpatory, or (2) Defendants had a duty to further investigate Goodwin's whereabouts on the date of the first drug buy. Both are unconvincing.
First, the booking sheet was not plainly exculpatory. We have explained that "[a]n officer contemplating an arrest is not free to disregard plainly exculpatory evidence, even if substantial inculpatory evidence (standing by itself) suggests that probable cause exists."
Here, by contrast, all the booking sheet shows is that Goodwin was incarcerated beginning on September 26, 2009. It does not say when he was released. The fact that the "time released" line is left blank is of no moment, since the document itself is undated. The detectives in this case simply could not infer from the booking sheet itself that Goodwin remained incarcerated through [], the date of the first drug buy.
Thus the fact that Defendants were aware of this booking sheet is insufficient to show that Defendants submitted the warrant application with a reckless disregard for the "truth" that Goodwin could not have been Snipe. To the contrary, the booking sheet supports the connection between Goodwin and Snipe because it lists Goodwin's nickname as "Snipe." The physical description of Goodwin in the booking sheet also closely matches the physical description of Snipe in Detective Conway's investigation report. If anything, then, the booking sheet is inculpatory, and supports rather than undermines a probable cause determination.
Second, the booking sheet did not trigger a duty to further investigate Goodwin's release date. We have explained that the reliability of information provided to officials may sometimes be questionable enough to "put a reasonable official on notice that further investigation [is] necessary."
In light of the information Defendants had at the time, there was no reason for them to further investigate Goodwin's release date. Another law enforcement officer unconnected to the investigation suggested that Snipe may be Rashied Goodwin, and Detective Lissner "immediately" made a positive photo identification of Goodwin. Goodwin makes much of the fact that Detective Lissner made this photo identification under "highly suggestive" circumstances. While this argument may be relevant to evidence suppression at a criminal trial, it is not relevant to the probable cause determination here.
We note that it may be advisable for officers to investigate further in other circumstances. For example, if the officers possessed more concrete evidence that the suspect was released on the exact date of the crime he allegedly committed but were unsure of the exact time of release, or if there was no photo identification involved, further inquiry might be necessary. But here, all the booking sheet told Defendants was that Goodwin was in custody [ ] before the date of the first drug buy. While this may have raised suspicion as to Goodwin's whereabouts around the time of the first drug buy, it did not undermine probable cause given the other information Defendants had in their possession at the time.
Because Goodwin has not set forth sufficient proof that Defendants deliberately or recklessly disregarded the truth when they submitted the warrant application to secure his arrest warrant, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on his false imprisonment claim.
Goodwin must also show lack of probable cause to prevail on his malicious prosecution claim.
No one disputes that, had Defendants possessed and ignored plainly exculpatory evidence when submitting Goodwin's warrant application, this would undermine if not eviscerate a finding of probable cause. But that is not the case here. The Plainfield booking sheet indicates that Goodwin was in custody [ ] before the date of the