Moses-El v. City of Denver

376 F. Supp. 3d 1160
CourtDistrict Court, D. Colorado
DecidedMarch 25, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 17-cv-03018-MSK-NRN
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 376 F. Supp. 3d 1160 (Moses-El v. City of Denver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moses-El v. City of Denver, 376 F. Supp. 3d 1160 (D. Colo. 2019).

Opinion

Marcia S. Krieger, Senior United States District Judge

THIS MATTER comes before the Court pursuant to: 1) the Motion to Dismiss brought by Defendants Morrissey, Benedetti, Whitley, and Kimbrough (collectively, "the DA Defendants") (# 57) , Mr. Moses-El's response (# 80) the DA Defendants' reply (# 88) ; 2) the Motion to Dismiss brought by Defendants City and County of Denver ("Denver") and Brown-Dressel ("Dr. Brown") (# 62) , Mr. Moses-El's response (# 81) , and Dr. Brown's reply (# 87) ; and 3) the Motion to Dismiss brought by Defendant Estate of James Huff (hereafter "Mr. Huff" or "the Estate," as applicable) (# 86) , Mr. Moses-El's response (# 95) , and the Estate's reply (# 103) .

ALLEGED FACTS

The operative pleading is Mr. Moses-El's Amended Complaint (# 47) , a formidable document - 113 pages and 451 numbered paragraphs. It tells a tragic story, but because much of the story is not pertinent to the issues presented, the Court is required to strip away rhetorical flourishes, conclusory statements and threadbare recitals in evaluation of the pleading under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Kansas Penn Gaming, LLC v. Collins , 656 F.3d 1210, 1214 (10th Cir. 2011). Having done so, the Court finds that the remaining pertinent, well-pled facts follow.

On the evening of August 15, 1987, an individual identified as T.S. was assaulted and violently raped in her apartment. ¶ 45. In her initial contacts with police, she identified her attacker as one of three possible men, L.C. Jackson, (hereafter, "Mr. Jackson"), Earl Jackson, or a man named Darnell. ¶ 54. A few days later, T.S. had a dream in which she re-lived the attack. She awoke from that dream convinced that it was Mr. Moses-El who attacked her. ¶ 56. T.S. then contacted Denver police and formally accused Mr. Moses-El.

Mr. Huff, then a detective on the Denver police force, investigated the attack on T.S. He was skeptical of the accuracy of T.S.'s identification of Mr. Moses-El, and advised the Denver District Attorney's office of that skepticism. ¶ 64. Nevertheless, Denver police chose to focus on T.S.'s accusations, and did not investigate L.C. Jackson or the other individuals initially identified by T.S. ¶ 67. On August 18, 1987, Mr. Huff and other members of the Denver police arrested Mr. Moses-El for the attack. ¶ 89.

On or about October 7, 1987, Dr. Brown reported the results of blood and semen testing taken from the rape kit of T.S.

*1167revealed the presence of an O blood type, and that Mr. Moses-El's blood type was B. Dr. Brown reported this information to Mr. Huff, but opined that "the tests are not conclusive either way." ¶ 97. The Amended Complaint alleges that, because of the sensitivity of the test she used and biological characteristics of Mr. Moses-El, Dr. Brown should have recognized that the blood tests were not inconclusive, but instead exculpated Mr. Moses-El. ¶ 107. Dr. Brown testified at Mr. Moses-El's trial in 1988 that the rape kit revealed the presence of an O blood type and that Mr. Moses-El had a B blood type, but Dr. Brown stood by her conclusion that the testing was inconclusive because, she believed, it was possible that the type-O blood could have come from T.S. instead. ¶ 113. Mr. Moses-El contends that, with the technology available in 1988, Dr. Brown could have readily concluded that it was highly unlikely (i.e. only a 7% chance) that he was the attacker. ¶ 115. Therefore, Mr. Moses-El alleges that Dr. Brown's "mischaracterization" of the blood evidence "was malicious." ¶ 118. He also contends that Dr. Brown should have addressed the inconclusiveness of the blood testing by requesting authorization to conduct a DNA test, but she did not. ¶ 122.

On April 8, 1988, Mr. Moses-El was convicted at trial and on March 17, 1989, he was sentenced to 48 years in prison. ¶ 132. Mr. Moses-El commenced a series of collateral attacks on his conviction, and in 1993, the Colorado Court of Appeals inquired whether the blood and semen samples taken from T.S. were still available for DNA testing. ¶ 145. Mr. Moses-El's counsel and the Denver DA's office reached an agreement that the samples would be preserved by the Denver Police Department. ¶ 147. At the request of Mr. Whitley, a Denver DA overseeing Mr. Moses-El's case in July 1995, an employee of the Denver Police Department marked samples relating to Mr. Moses-El's case with the note "DO NOT DESTROY" and logged the existence of the sample in the Police Department's computer. ¶ 153. Nevertheless, in October 1995, Mr. Huff approved a request by police staff to destroy a collection of evidence, including the samples in question, overlooking the notation that the samples should be preserved. ¶ 159. The samples were destroyed in December 1995, right around the time when Mr. Moses-El and Mr. Whitley were preparing to have the samples submitted to an outside lab for further testing. ¶ 171, 175.

In 2007, a Denver Post investigation highlighted Mr. Moses-El's case in conjunction with a story about the destruction of DNA samples by the Denver Police Department. ¶ 213. Members of Colorado's legislature proposed legislation to address situations like Mr. Moses-El's where potentially exculpatory evidence was destroyed. ¶ 220. Mr. Morrissey, Denver's District Attorney, and Mr. Whitley both lobbied against the bill. ¶ 225, 228. The Amended Complaint contends that Mr. Morrissey made false statements to legislators and the public regarding certain aspects of Mr. Moses-El's case, such as that T.S. had not previously identified others as her attackers or that she had delayed in identifying Mr. Moses-El. ¶ 227. The Amended Complaint does not clearly assert, but the Court assumes the proposed legislation did not pass.

In April 2012, Mr. Jackson sent a letter to Mr. Moses-El, confessing that he had "a lot on [his] heart" and inviting Mr. Moses-El to having investigators contact him. ¶ 232. Mr. Jackson subsequently told investigators that he had been T.S.'s attacker.

*11681 ¶ 233. Mr. Moses-El moved to vacate his conviction based upon Mr. Jackson's confession, but Ms. Benedetti, now the D.A. handling Mr. Moses-El's case, opposed the motion, believing Mr. Jackson's confession to be false and opportunistic. ¶ 237. The state court granted Mr. Moses-El an evidentiary hearing on his motion in September 2014. ¶ 236. Ms. Benedetti suggested that the state court appoint counsel for Mr. Jackson, as his testimony might implicate his Fifth Amendment rights; Mr. Moses-El contends that the likelihood that Denver could prosecute Mr. Jackson for any crime relating to T.S. at that point in time was "at best, a stretch." ¶ 239, 240. Mr. Moses-El contends that Ms. Benedetti was hoping that, with the assistance of counsel, Mr. Jackson might elect not to testify in favor of Mr. Moses-El. ¶ 241.

Prior to the evidentiary hearing, Ms. Benedetti and Mr. Carroll, an investigator with the D.A.'s office, visited Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Miles v. BKP Inc.
D. Colorado, 2022

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
376 F. Supp. 3d 1160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moses-el-v-city-of-denver-cod-2019.