McKinley v. Mansfield

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 2005
Docket03-4258
StatusPublished

This text of McKinley v. Mansfield (McKinley v. Mansfield) 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
McKinley v. Mansfield, (6th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR FULL-TEXT PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit Rule 206 File Name: 05a0170p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT _________________

X Plaintiff-Appellant, - JEFFREY MCKINLEY, - - - No. 03-4258 v. , > CITY OF MANSFIELD, et al., - Defendants-Appellees. - N Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland. No. 02-02339—Dan A. Polster, District Judge. Argued: October 27, 2004 Decided and Filed: April 11, 2005 Before: KEITH, CLAY, and BRIGHT,* Circuit Judges. _________________ COUNSEL ARGUED: Kenneth D. Myers, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Richard P. Goddard, CALFEE, HALTER & GRISWOLD, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Kenneth D. Myers, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellant. Richard P. Goddard, CALFEE, HALTER & GRISWOLD, Cleveland, Ohio, for Appellee. CLAY, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which KEITH, J., joined. BRIGHT, J. (p. 23), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. _________________ OPINION _________________ CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiff Jeffrey McKinley, a former police officer in Mansfield, Ohio, appeals the judgment of the district court granting summary judgment to Defendants the City of Mansfield (the “City”) and five of its police officers and officials.1 The district court granted

* The Honorable Myron H. Bright, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation. 1 McKinley named as defendants the following individuals in their individual and official capacities: Lawrence Harper, the City’s police chief during the events of this case; Ronald Kruder, the City’s Safety Director; Philip Messer, a City police captain during the events of this case and the current police chief; and Dale Fortney, a police lieutenant

1 No. 03-4258 McKinley v. City of Mansfield, et al. Page 2

summary judgment on the grounds that McKinley had failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact as to either of the federal constitutional claims he brought in this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. McKinley alleges that, in the course of an internal investigation into City police officers’ misuse of their radio scanners to invade citizens’ privacy, the City and its police officials (1) compelled him to be a witness against himself in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and (2) maliciously prosecuted him in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The district court dismissed McKinley’s state law claims without prejudice.2 We AFFIRM the district court’s entry of summary judgment as to McKinley’s malicious prosecution claim. But as to McKinley’s Fifth Amendment claim, we REVERSE and REMAND to the district court for proceedings consistent with this opinion. BACKGROUND The following facts are viewed, as they must be, in the light most favorable to McKinley. On February 3, 2000, McKinley, a patrol officer for the Mansfield Police Department, observed an intoxicated William Noble urinating in a parking lot. Advised earlier in the day by his supervisor that all patrol officers were to issue summonses due to overcrowding at the city jail, McKinley began writing Noble a ticket. In the meantime, Noble made a cell phone call in his car as two of McKinley’s colleagues, Sgt. David Nirode and officer Gary Foster, arrived on the scene. Upon his arrival, Foster told McKinley and Nirode that he overheard Noble’s cell phone call on his police scanner.3 After Foster described the substance of the phone call to McKinley and Nirode, McKinley arrested and incarcerated Noble for public indecency and intoxication. The Scannergate Investigation & Garrity Immunity In late February 2000, Defendant Harper, the chief of police, directed Defendant Messer, a captain on the force, to oversee an investigation into officers’ misuse of scanners. Harper launched the investigation after hearing several reports of officers using scanners to eavesdrop on citizens’ phone calls; the investigation became known as “scannergate.” Ultimately, the investigation would involve interviews of more than thirty police officers, searches of officers’ lockers, and interviews of some civilians. Messer placed Lieutenant Detective Dale Fortney, also a defendant in this case, in command of the investigation and directed Fortney to interview certain officers, including McKinley. Fortney and his colleague, Lt. Goldsmith, conducted two interviews of McKinley, the first on February 25, 2000 (the “first interview”), and the second on March 7, 2000 (the “second interview”). Prior to the first interview, McKinley read and acknowledged the following statement in writing: ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS INTERNAL AFFAIRS UNIT You are hereby advised that you are about to be questioned as part of an official administrative investigation of the Division of Police. You will be asked specific question (sic) which will relate directly and narrowly to the performance of your official duties or fitness as an employee or member of the Division of Police. The purpose of this interview is to assist in determining whether disciplinary action

detective during the events of this case. 2 McKinley’s state law claims include: false arrest, abuse of process, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and breach of contract. See Joint Appendix (“J.A.”) at 13-15 (Compl.). 3 McKinley at one point denied that this conversation occurred but later admitted it in an interview with police that he challenges here on Fifth Amendment grounds. No. 03-4258 McKinley v. City of Mansfield, et al. Page 3

is warranted, and the answers furnished may be used in disciplinary proceedings that could result in administrative action against you. Because this is an administrative and not a criminal investigation, the Division of Police will not use any of the answers or information gained from the interview in any criminal proceeding against you. Further, the Division of Police will not release this information to any other agency without your approval and will ho[l]d it as confidential, except as mandated by an appropriate and competent authority or as necessary for disciplinary proceedings and appeals of such proceedings. You are further advised that you are hereby ordered and required to fully and truthfully answer all questions asked of you in this interview. Your failure to comply with this order constitutes your being in violation of the Rules and Regulations of the Division of Police . . . . (J.A. at 71). At Fortney’s behest, McKinley added: “I am giving the following statement by reason of an order from a superior officer, advising me that refusal to obey could result in disciplinary action. . . . However, it is my belief and understanding that the Division of Police requires this statement solely and exclusively for internal administrative purposes . . . .” Id. at 73. These promises of use immunity are consistent with the long-established rule that when a public employer conducts an internal investigation it may dismiss an employee who refuses to answer investigative questions, but it may not use any incriminating statements against the employee in a criminal prosecution regarding the matter under investigation. Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 500 (1967). In the first interview, Fortney asked McKinley about officers’ use of scanners to eavesdrop and about the events of February 3, 2000, including the Noble phone call. McKinley claimed to have no knowledge of the alleged scanner misuse and denied that Foster or anyone else divulged the substance of the Noble call to him. McKinley affirmed the truth of his answers by providing a sworn signature on the interview transcript.

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McKinley v. Mansfield, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckinley-v-mansfield-ca6-2005.