Hammond v. County of Oakland

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 19, 2022
Docket3:17-cv-13051
StatusUnknown

This text of Hammond v. County of Oakland (Hammond v. County of Oakland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hammond v. County of Oakland, (E.D. Mich. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DIVISION ______________________________________________________________________

KURT HAMMOND,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 17-13051

COUNTY OF OAKLAND, et al.,

Defendants. ________________________________/

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION IN LIMINE AND DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION IN LIMINE Plaintiff Kurt Hammond has filed a motion in limine that seeks to exclude evidence regarding Plaintiff’s criminal convictions. (ECF No. 85). Likewise, Defendants Christopher Cadotte and Oakland County have filed a “Motion in Limine to Preclude Evidence of Defendant [Cadotte]’s Subsequent Acts.” (ECF No. 80). The motions have been fully briefed, and the court concludes a hearing is unnecessary.1 See E.D. Mich. R. 7.1(f)(2). For the reasons explained below, the court finds that Defendants’ motion in limine should be granted while Plaintiff’s should be denied. I. BACKGROUND In December 2016, Plaintiff was bitten by a police dog named Odin as Oakland County Sherriff’s deputies arrested Plaintiff in his home. Following the incident, Plaintiff filed the present 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging arresting deputies used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. (ECF No. 1.) Plaintiff also brings a Monell claim against Oakland County, asserting that Defendant County failed to have an

1 Plaintiff did not file a reply brief supporting his motion in limine. effective dog use policy and failed to train Odin. Plaintiff’s Complaint alleges he experienced significant damages “[a]s a direct and proximate result of the wrongful conduct and Constitutional violations by the Defendants.” (Id., PageID.18.) Specifically, he alleges physical injuries, “humiliation, mental anguish, emotional suffering, and embarrassment and other psychological and emotional injuries.”2 (Id., PageID.19.)

This court, in an opinion by Judge Cohn, initially denied summary judgment as to all Defendants. See Hammond v. Cty. of Oakland, No. 17-13051, 2019 WL 5578029 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 29, 2019), aff'd in part, rev'd in part. Defendant deputies appealed on qualified immunity grounds, and the Sixth Circuit affirmed in part, and reversed in part, this court’s denial of qualified immunity. See Hammond v. Cty. of Oakland, Michigan, 825 F. App'x 344 (6th Cir. 2020). The Sixth Circuit held that a genuine factual dispute remains as to whether Defendant Cadotte, Odin’s handler, “ordered Odin to bite [Plaintiff] after the deputies had handcuffed him,” or if, instead, “Odin's bites came as a result of a ‘spontaneous

response’ to Hammond's ‘threatening’ movement into the dog's defensive perimeter.’” See id. at 347. The ruling significantly narrowed the issues in dispute by finding that Defendant deputies “did not use excessive force when they deployed Odin into the house to locate [Plaintiff], tackled him to the ground, and pinned him there while handcuffing him.” See id. Further, the Sixth Circuit held that other Defendant deputies present at the scene were entitled to qualified immunity regarding the entire incident because Plaintiff “cites no caselaw clearly establishing that officers who are not trained

2 The court previously explained the factual underpinnings and procedural history of this case at length so it will not do so again here. (See ECF No. 78.) as dog handlers have a duty to intervene and control a dog notwithstanding the presence of the dog's handler[, Defendant Cadotte].” Id. Consequently, only Cadotte and the County remain as Defendants in this action. In anticipation of trial, the opposing parties have filed competing motions in limine

that, in the main, seek to preemptively limit evidence and questioning that can be offered to impeach the testimony of their respective clients. II. PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO LIMINE Plaintiff has filed a motion in limine seeking to bar Defendants from introducing “any questions, comments, innuendo, or evidence regarding” either his prior 1986 felony criminal sexual conduct convictions (Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §§ 750.520b - 750.520c), or his 2016 criminal sexual conduct (M.C.L § 750.520d) and unlawful imprisonment (M.C.L § 750.349b) convictions resulting from his conduct the night he was arrested by Defendant Cadotte. (ECF No. 85, PageID.2084.) Plaintiff argues that the 1986 convictions are “irrelevant to the issues in the present case” and should be excluded as

“more prejudicial than probative” under Federal Rule of Evidence 609(b)(2) as the conviction is more than ten years old. (Id., PageID.2085.) Likewise, while Plaintiff concedes that under Rule 609(a)(1), “the jury can be informed that [he] is serving a prison term for a felony conviction and the date of [the 2016] conviction,” he argues details regarding “the nature of [the] conviction . . . is not probative of [Plaintiff’s] credibility and creates a significant danger of unfair prejudice.” (Id.) Rule 609(a)(1)(A) provides, in relevant part, “for a crime that, in the convicting jurisdiction, was punishable by death or imprisonment for more than one year, the evidence . . . must be admitted, subject to Rule 403, in a civil case.” Fed. R. Evid. 609(a)(1)(A) (emphasis added). “[I]f more than 10 years have passed since the witness's conviction or release from confinement for it, whichever is later,” such a conviction is generally inadmissible unless “its probative value, supported by specific facts and circumstances, substantially outweighs its prejudicial effect.” See Fed. R.

Evid. 609(b). The court holds that Plaintiff’s motion in limine must be denied. First, the court finds that Defendant is allowed to introduce relevant evidence regarding Plaintiff’s criminal conduct in 2016 because such information is both relevant to Plaintiff’s credibility and needed to provide the jury with a complete picture of the events that led to his arrest by Defendant Cadotte. Second, limited information regarding the 1986 convictions can be presented to the jury for impeachment purposes under Rule 609. A. Plaintiff’s 2016 Felony Convictions Defendants argue that evidence regarding Plaintiff’s 2016 felony convictions can be admitted for the purpose of impeaching Plaintiff’s credibility under Fed. R. Evid.

609(a) and because “the severity of the crime at issue (specifically rape) is one factor used to evaluate the actions of [Defendant] Cadotte” under the test for assessing excessive force laid out by the Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 394 (1989). (See ECF No. 87, PageID.2363-65.) The court agrees. Here, Plaintiff’s credibility will undoubtedly be a central issue at trial because the jury will be required to weigh Plaintiff’s claim that Defendant Cadotte ordered Odin to bite him once handcuffed, so the fact that Plaintiff has amassed serious felony convictions is relevant. See Hammond, 825 F. App'x at 347. “Rule 609(a)(1) presumes that all felonies are at least somewhat probative of a witness's propensity to testify truthfully,” United States v. Estrada, 430 F.3d 606, 617 (2d Cir. 2005), and reflects the “proposition that one who has transgressed society's norms by committing a felony is less likely than most to be deterred from lying under oath,” Cummings v. Malone, 995 F.2d 817, 826 (8th Cir. 1993). Plaintiff’s 2016 felony convictions are less than ten years

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Hammond v. County of Oakland, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hammond-v-county-of-oakland-mied-2022.