Mattis v. Schnarr

404 F. Supp. 643
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedOctober 7, 1975
Docket72C 1 (4)
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 404 F. Supp. 643 (Mattis v. Schnarr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mattis v. Schnarr, 404 F. Supp. 643 (E.D. Mo. 1975).

Opinion

404 F.Supp. 643 (1975)

Robert Dean MATTIS, M.D., Plaintiff,
v.
Richard R. SCHNARR, and Robert Marek, Defendants,
v.
John C. DANFORTH, Attorney General, State of Missouri, Intervenor Defendant.

No. 72C 1 (4).

United States District Court, E. D. Missouri, E. D.

October 7, 1975.

*644 Richard D. Baron, Eugene H. Buder, Benjamin Roth, American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiff; Joel M. Gora, American Civil Liberties Union, New York City, of counsel.

J. Leonard Walther, Brackman, Copeland, Oetting, Copeland, Walther & Schmidt, Clayton, Mo., for defendants Wm. Kisling & Richard E. Schnarr.

Shulamith Simon, Husch, Eppenberger, Donohue, Elson & Cornfeld, St. Louis, Mo., for defendant Robert Marek.

Moser, Marsalek, Carpenter, Cleary, Jaeckel, Keaney & Brown and F. Douglas, O'Leary, St. Louis, Mo., for defendant.

OPINION

NANGLE, District Judge.

This case is before the Court following a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, remanding the case for a determination of the constitutionality of the Missouri states involved. Mattis v. Schnarr, et al., 502 F.2d 588 (8th Cir. 1974).[1]

Plaintiff was the father of Michael G. Mattis who has been killed. This suit was originally brought by plaintiff and his wife, Christine H. Mattis, Michael's mother; Mrs. Mattis, however, has died since the institution of this suit. The defendants, Patrolman Richard R. Schnarr and Sergeant Robert Marek, were the arresting officers involved in the death of the plaintiff's son. The Attorney General for the State of Missouri has intervened in this suit following the remand by the Court of Appeals.

The case was submitted on stipulated facts. On November 30, 1971, plaintiff's son, Michael Mattis, age 18, and a Thomas Rolf, age 17, had entered the office of a golf driving range at night by means of an unlocked window for the purpose of taking money. As the two were leaving, they were intercepted by defendant policemen who attempted to effectuate an arrest. Rolf was taken into custody, but Mattis broke away from defendant Marek's grasp. As Mattis fled, Marek shouted, "Stop, or I'll shoot". When Mattis continued his flight, Marek fired one shot, believing he shot in the air above Mattis. The bullet, however, struck Mattis in the head, causing his death. It was stipulated that the defendant police officers would testify

that their use of their guns in the manner described was reasonably necessary under the circumstances and was authorized by the statutes of the State of Missouri and that such statutes were valid and lawful.

Mattis v. Kissling, et al., Civil No. 72-Civ. (3) (E.D.Mo., filed January 16, 1973).

Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment that the statutes authorizing the defendant police officers' conduct (Sections 559.040 and 544.190, Revised Statutes of Missouri 1969) are unconstitutional. Plaintiff also asked for damages for the wrongful death of his son but has since abandoned this claim.

Plaintiff contends that the statutes in question 1) violate the Fourteenth Amendment by depriving him of his right to raise a family and by authorizing the termination of his parental rights, without due process of law, 2) violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because of the distinction made between felons and misdemeanants, and 3) inflict cruel and unusual punishment on plaintiff and his decedent son contrary to the Eighth Amendment.

The two statutes being challenged provide:

*645 1) § 559.040, R.S.Mo.1969:
Homicide shall be deemed justifiable when committed by any person in either of the following cases:
. . . . . .
(3) When necessarily committed in attempting by lawful ways and means to apprehend any person for any felony committed, or in lawfully suppressing any riot or insurrection, or in lawfully keeping or preserving the peace.
2) § 544.190, R.S.Mo.1969:
If, after notice of the intention to arrest the defendant, he either flee or forcibly resist, the officer may use all necessary means to effect the arrest.

This latter statute requires that (1) the arresting officer give a defendant notice of his intention to arrest, (2) that the defendant either flee or forcibly resist, and (3) that whatever force the officer uses must be necessary. There is an additional requirement, that the arrest be lawful, which is implicit in the statutes.

Statutes such as the ones under attack here exist in a majority of states, and although criticism has been levelled at the scope of such statutes, most writers on the subject propose amendments and not complete abolition.[2]

Society requires protection against criminals. Criminal laws are enacted in order to give legal form and efficacy to such protection. Enforcement of these laws requires, ultimately, the prosecution of those who violate them. Since arrest of the violator is a condition precedent to this entire enforcement procedure, whatever facilitates arrest benefits society unless there are concomitant consequences which are socially harmful.

Obviously, the right to use deadly force facilitates arrest. Its legalization notifies the criminal that flight invites the risk of injury or death. On the other hand, if injury or death does occur, social injury results. Therefore, the right to use deadly force should be limited.[3]

At the outset it should be noted that it is not the role of this Court to determine whether social policy dictates that the scope of the statutes be narrowed. This Court's duty is to determine whether the challenged statutes are in conflict with the Constitution of the United States. In this determination, plaintiff's three contentions will be considered separately and in order.

I. THE DUE PROCESS ARGUMENT

Plaintiff asserts that the statutes violate his right to raise a family and his right to retain his parental rights until terminated by due process of law.

In Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965), in a concurring opinion, it is stated that:

The entire fabric of the Constitution and the purposes that clearly underlie its specific guarantees demonstrate that the rights to marital privacy and to marry and raise a family are of similar order and magnitude as the fundamental rights specifically protected. Id. at 495, 85 S.Ct. at 1688.

The right to raise a family had been previously recognized in Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 43 S.Ct. 625, 67 L. Ed. 1042 (1923) wherein the state had attempted to forbid the teaching of any foreign language in public school until the child had reached the eighth grade; and in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 *646 U.S. 510, 45 S.Ct. 571, 69 L.Ed. 1070 (1924) where the state had attempted to abolish private schools.

Other cases have held that parental rights may not be terminated without notice and a hearing. Armstrong v. Manzo, 380 U.S. 545, 85 S.Ct.

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