Hill v. City of New York

45 F.3d 653, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 1082, 1995 WL 24313
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided January 17, 1995·No. No. 1664, Docket 93-9343·Published·Cited by 254 cases

Opinions

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

The issue in this § 1983 civil rights litigation concerns the precise scope of a local district attorney’s immunity from suit. Because a public prosecutor cannot zealously perform the prosecutorial duties of the office if compelled to work under the constant threat of legal reprisals, such official is shielded from liability for civil wrongs by the doctrine of absolute immunity. When this doctrine, necessary to preserve the integrity of the judicial process, shields an alleged egregious and contemptable abuse of official power it is of course very troubling.

A district attorney plays more than one role in discharging the duties of the prosecutorial office: sometimes an administrative, sometimes an investigative, and sometimes an advocate’s role. When acting as a criminal investigator, a prosecutor is accorded only the qualified immunity ordinarily granted to the police function. Thus, whether a district attorney is or is not entitled to absolute immunity for his or her conduct depends on the function being performed at that time. Here, because what function was being performed “is smother’d in surmise,” W. Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act I, scene iii (Oxford Press ed. 1928), that aspect of the case must first be resolved in the district court into a final order before we may entertain jurisdiction over it.

This appeal arises out of a civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1988) against an assistant district attorney, a social worker and two videotape technicians employed by the New York County District Attorney’s office. Defendants are charged with having engaged in a conspiracy to fabricate false evidence against the plaintiff, Diane Hill. Assistant District Attorney Richard Adago was in charge of investigating the alleged sexual abuse of plaintiffs five-year-old son Joseph.

According to Hill's complaint, the state prosecutor, having obtained only confused and contradictory accounts from the infant victim, determined to manufacture probable cause against the child’s mother, plaintiff Hill, by videotaping an interview in which Joseph accused her in a coached and coerced script. Two videotaped interviews were conducted: in the first, Joseph accused his former foster brother, “Little Jesse,” of the abuse; in the second interview Joseph implicated his mother. The assistant district at[657]*657torney ignored the substance of the earlier interview, and used the second tape as the basis for ordering plaintiff’s arrest and obtaining an indictment against her. Joseph and his brother were removed from their mother’s custody and both were placed in foster homes. Unable to raise bail, plaintiff spent seven months in prison awaiting trial. During this period, she gave birth to her third child while shackled to a hospital bed. This infant was also taken from her custody to be placed in foster care. Not until the earlier, exculpatory videotape came to light, was plaintiff finally released.

Defendants moved to dismiss Hill’s complaint on the grounds of absolute immunity, and the district court for the Southern District of New York (Sprizzo, J.) denied the motion. This appeal is from that denial. For the reasons given below, we affirm in part, and reverse and dismiss in part, and remand to the district court for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

Because this is a review of a motion to dismiss, we accept the allegations in the amended complaint as true, see Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence & Coordination Unit, — U.S. -, -, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 1161, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993), bearing in mind that the amended complaint may not be dismissed if plaintiff can prove any set of facts that would entitle her to relief. See Easton v. Sundram, 947 F.2d 1011, 1015 (2d Cir.1991), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1943, 118 L.Ed.2d 548 (1992). The facts upon which we rely therefore are derived from those allegations of plaintiffs amended complaint that support her § 1983 claim.

A. Factual Allegations

On June 18, 1985 Diane Hill gave birth to Joseph Hill, who shortly after his birth was placed in foster care. Three years later, Hill gave birth to a second son, Matthew McDonald, who resided with plaintiff until the events at issue in this lawsuit took place. Hill repeatedly sought to have Joseph returned to her custody, and beginning in January of 1991, Hill was permitted unsupervised weekend visits with him.

On January 26, 1991 during the third such visit, Hill discovered wood particles in Joseph’s feces after he screamed in pain while using the bathroom. Joseph told his mother that “Big Jesse” and “Little Jesse” — two members of the foster home where Joseph had been living until October of 1990 — had inserted a piece of wood in his rectum. Plaintiff immediately contacted the foster care agency social workers and made arrangements for Joseph to be taken to Beth Israel Hospital. Officer Bruce Clark of the New York City Housing Police went to Hill’s home on the same day, examined the feces and took a sample to the hospital. Unfortunately, instead of being analyzed, the sample was destroyed.

At the hospital the examining doctor found a square piece of wood inside Joseph’s rectum. There were no other signs of physical abuse. Joseph told the doctor Big Jesse and Little Jesse put the wood inside him. After consulting with social workers, Officer Clark discharged Joseph into his mother’s custody, the determination having been made not to return him to foster care. No report of suspected child abuse was filed.

On January 28, 1991 New York County Assistant District Attorney Adago was assigned to investigate the case. He interviewed Joseph several times at the Manhattan district attorney’s office. During the first interview Joseph stated that his former foster mother Dricilla Harris — the mother of Little Jesse — had inserted the wood in his rectum. Joseph had been removed from Harris’ home because she physically abused him. Despite this allegation against Harris, Adago filed a report of suspected child abuse against the child’s mother, plaintiff Hill, stating that she had used a stick to sexually abuse both Joseph and his younger brother, Matthew McDonald. There was no indication at that time that Matthew had suffered any abuse, nor was any such proof ever produced. The assistant district attorney nonetheless successfully requested that Matthew be removed from plaintiffs custody.

On January 29, 1991 the prosecutor and defendant Awilda Rialano, a social worker for [658]*658the New York County District Attorney’s Office Child Abuse Bureau, videotaped an interview with Joseph. Defendant Michael Mannion, an employee of the New York County District Attorney’s Office, operated the video camera. Plaintiff alleges that Ada-go and Rialano specifically instructed Joseph to state that plaintiff beat him with a stick and then inserted it in his anus. In response to Adago’s question of how the wood got into Joseph’s anus, Joseph named his former foster brother, “Little Jesse.” Adago immediately ordered that the videotape be stopped, and Mannion complied.1

On January 31, 1991 Joseph was interviewed again on videotape. On this occasion, defendant Clayton Frazier, also an employee of the district attorney’s office, operated the video camera.

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Hill v. City of New York, 45 F.3d 653, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 1082, 1995 WL 24313 (2d Cir. 1995).

45 F.3d 653 (Hill v. City of New York) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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