Jennifer Leech v. John Mayer

588 F. App'x 402
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedOctober 22, 2014
Docket12-4429
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 588 F. App'x 402 (Jennifer Leech v. John Mayer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jennifer Leech v. John Mayer, 588 F. App'x 402 (6th Cir. 2014).

Opinions

MARTHA CRAIG DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge.

Following plaintiff Edwin Griffeth’s arrest and incarceration for violating conditions of his “release supervision,” Griffeth and coplaintiff Jennifer Leech filed suit against 27 officials and agencies of the State of Ohio, alleging, among other claims, that those defendants conspired to deprive Griffeth and Leech of rights guaranteed them under the First, Second, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Through the course of the ensuing litigation, a number of those claims and defendants were dismissed voluntarily by the parties, and the district court granted dispositive motions in favor of other defendants. On appeal, the plaintiffs now contest only two of those district court’s orders: one that granted qualified immunity to defendant John Mayer on numerous conspiracy claims and allegations premised upon the provisions of 42 U.S.C. § 1983; and a second order that granted a motion to dismiss § 1983 claims by the plaintiffs against defendants Lee Sampson, Ron Nelson, Russell Daubenspeck, Dave Lo-max, and Lazarus Todd. For the reasons discussed below, we reject the arguments put forth by Leech and Griffeth and affirm the judgment of the district court.

[404]*404 FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In order to place the actions of the parties to this appeal in the proper context, it is necessary to recap events dating back as far as May 2004. At that time, a high-school student, less than two weeks shy of her eighteenth birthday, attended a party hosted by Alex Griffeth, plaintiff Edwin Griffeth’s son. Edwin was also present at the party, and at some point during the evening, he invited the female student to share a special stash of “really good marijuana” with him. After taking three bong hits with Edwin, “things became blurry” for the young woman due, she believed, to the fact that she had ingested marijuana previously that evening and also had consumed five beers. The next thing she remembered, Edwin Griffeth had removed her pants and underwear and had inserted his penis into her vagina.

Approximately three weeks later, on June 5, 2004, Alex Griffeth hosted another party, this time to celebrate his high-school graduation. The partygoers again participated in beer-drinking and marijuana-smoking. One of the guests at the party, an 18-year-old female, admitted that, after consuming two-and-a-half beers and taking two hits of marijuana, she engaged in consensual intercourse with Alex Griffeth in the Griffeth home. Not feeling well, however, she remained in the bedroom and fell asleep after Alex rejoined the party. Sometime later, she awoke to find herself naked, with plaintiff Edwin Griffeth on top of her, raping her vaginal-iy-

Following the report of these two sexual assaults, criminal prosecution ensued, Edwin Griffeth pleaded guilty in Ohio state court to two counts of sexual battery, and . he was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge James DeWeese on October 4, 2004, to four years in state prison. Incarceration was to be followed by five years of “community control” overseen by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (OAPA). On November 7, 2006, however, after serving only two years of his four-year prison term, Griffeth was granted “judicial release” by Judge DeWeese and was ordered to begin his five-year parole stint.

Before beginning his period of supervision, Griffeth signed and dated documents that indicated his agreement to abide by certain “Special Conditions of Supervision” and “Sex Offender Special Conditions.” Among the relevant restrictions on the plaintiffs liberty, Griffeth agreed to:

Secure written permission of the supervising officer before leaving the county of residence.
Maintain a 10:00 P.M. to 5:00 A.M. curfew in [his] residence, unless [he] obtained written permission from [his] probation/parole officer.
[N]ot possess, own, use, or have under [his] control a police scanner, pager device, cellular telephone or two-way radios.
[N]ot form a relationship with a man or woman who has physical custody of children without the knowledge and permission of [his] supervising officer.
[N]ot drive or ride in a motor vehicle with females without the knowledge and permission of [his] supervising officer.

At the time that Griffeth was released from prison, defendant John Mayer served as a supervisor of the Mansfield Unit of the OAPA. In that capacity, however, Mayer was not directly responsible for Grif-feth’s supervision. In fact,. Mayer’s supervision of Griffeth would have involved an improper conflict of interest due to the fact that Griffeth had developed a personal relationship with Mayer’s ex-wife, plaintiff Jennifer Leech.

[405]*405Indeed, the appellate record indicates that Leech and Griffeth first met in 2004 when Leech, then still single, purchased a car from Griffeth’s family’s automobile dealership. According to Leech, the two became friends and, on one Fourth of July, accompanied each other to dinner and a fireworks display. Leech initially kept in contact with Griffeth through letters and phone calls while he was in prison, but she eventually broke off the relationship because “[she] was just uncomfortable with it. [She] didn’t see the sense in continuing a relationship at that point.”

In June 2007, Leech married defendant Mayer, but the union “was very rocky from ... the day before the wedding.” By April 2008, the couple had separated, and on August 18, 2008, Leech was granted a divorce from Mayer. As part of that divorce decree, both Leech and Mayer were “permanently mutually] enjoined and restrained from bothering, harassing or annoying the other.”

According to testimony provided by Leech at an administrative hearing, however, Mayer failed to keep up his end of that bargain. Plaintiff Leech asserted that Mayer continued to send her letters, make telephone calls to her, follow her around town, and “coincidentally” cross paths with her every morning and every afternoon. In fact, the alleged stalking and harassment became so bad that Leech contacted the Mansfield Police Department to complain. The police apparently telephoned Máyer and told him to cease contacts with his ex-wife. Mayer’s employer, the OAPA, also ordered him not to contact Leech.

Around that same time period, Leech and Griffeth rekindled their friendship. Although both plaintiffs claimed that their relationship was not romantic in nature, Mayer obviously thought differently. Those suspicions were heightened in early August 2008, ’ prior to the finalization of Mayer’s and Leech’s divorce, when Leech accompanied Griffeth on a trip to Florida.

Although Griffeth had obtained permission from his parole officer, defendant Daubenspeck, to take a nine-day trip to Clearwater, Florida, with his mother in order to “visit/repair property,” it became clear that Leech, not Griffeth’s mother, actually traveled with plaintiff Griffeth. Nevertheless, Leech explained that she and Griffeth only flew to Florida and back together, and did not see each other at all in Florida, other than at the airport.

Further tension between Leech and Mayer surfaced when the couple’s divorce became final and Mayer asked Leech to return a service firearm he had given her previously for her protection.

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588 F. App'x 402, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jennifer-leech-v-john-mayer-ca6-2014.