Spencer v. Krause, No. 14-35689 (9th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseThe Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the deliberate fabrication of evidence by a state official; deliberate fabrication can be established by circumstantial evidence; deliberate fabrication can be shown by direct evidence; and, in cases involving direct evidence, the investigator's knowledge or reason to know of the plaintiff's innocence need not be proved. In this case, plaintiff introduced direct evidence of deliberate fabrication, specifically, evidence that Detective Sharon Krause deliberately mischaracterized witnesses' statements in her investigative reports. A jury found for plaintiff and against defendants, but the district court granted judgment as a matter of law to defendants based on the ground that plaintiff had failed to introduce evidence that Krause knew or should have known of plaintiff's innocence. The Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded, holding that the district court misunderstood the court's precedent. Because plaintiff introduced direct evidence of deliberate fabrication, he did not have to prove that Krause knew or should have known that he was innocent. Furthermore, defendants' other challenges to the jury's verdict failed.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel reversed the district court’s judgment as a matter of law and remanded with instructions to reinstate a jury verdict in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in which plaintiff alleged that a Clark County detective deliberately fabricated evidence against him and continued her criminal investigation despite knowing that plaintiff was innocent. Plaintiff alleged that defendant deliberately mischaracterized witness statements in her investigative reports. As a result, plaintiff testified that he entered a plea pursuant to Carolina v. Alford, 500 U.S. 25, 37–38 (1970), causing him to spend nearly twenty years in prison. A jury found for plaintiff, but the district court granted judgment as a matter of law to defendants on the grounds that plaintiff failed to introduce evidence that defendant knew or should have known of plaintiff’s innocence. The panel held that because plaintiff introduced direct evidence of fabrication, he did not have to prove that defendant knew or should have known he was innocent. SPENCER V. KRAUSE 3 Addressing defendant’s cross-appeal, the panel held that ample evidence in the record supported the jury’s finding on causation and given the jury’s finding on causation and all other elements, the district court did not err by not separately instructing the jury on “but for” causation and “proximate” causation. The panel further held that the district court did not err by declining to instruct the jury that plaintiff was required to prove, that setting aside the fabricated evidence, probable cause was lacking. Finally, the panel held that the district court did not err by giving a deliberate indifference instruction and by permitting plaintiff to introduce certain evidence.
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