Dennis v. City of Philadelphia, No. 19-2390 (3d Cir. 2021)
Annotate this Case
Dennis was convicted of a 1991 robbery and first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. In 2013, the district court granted Dennis’s habeas petition, vacated his conviction, and ordered a new trial on all charges, finding that Dennis’s prosecutors withheld material impeachment evidence. The Third Circuit, en banc, affirmed. On remand, Dennis accepted a deal. In exchange for a time-served sentence, he pleaded nolo contendere to reduced charges. Dennis then filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging fabrication of evidence and deliberate deception, civil rights conspiracy, failure to intervene, supervisory liability, and municipal liability.
The Third Circuit affirmed the denial of a motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity. Dennis has alleged the violation of his due process rights clearly established at the time of the detective’s conduct on which the claims are based. Dennis’s deliberate deception claim not only alleges that the detectives withheld exculpatory and impeachment evidence that would have supported his alibi and defense, but that they also failed to correct testimony they knew was false and concealed from the defense the evidence that revealed that trial testimony as
false. The court dismissed, for lack of jurisdiction on interlocutory appeal, consideration of a ruling that the Heck bar does not apply.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.