Welch v. Prescott Police Department

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedOctober 4, 2019
Docket3:19-cv-08213
StatusUnknown

This text of Welch v. Prescott Police Department (Welch v. Prescott Police Department) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welch v. Prescott Police Department, (D. Ariz. 2019).

Opinion

1 JL 2 WO 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 8 9 Ryan William Welch, No. CV 19-08213-PCT-DGC (MHB) 10 Plaintiff, 11 v. ORDER 12 Prescott Police Department, et al., 13 14 Defendants.

15 16 On July 18, 2019, Plaintiff Ryan William Welch, who is confined in the Yavapai 17 County Detention Center, filed a pro se civil rights Complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 18 and, on August 5, 2019, he filed an Application to Proceed In Forma Pauperis. In an 19 August 8, 2019 Order, the Court granted the Application to Proceed and dismissed the 20 Complaint because Plaintiff had failed to state a claim. The Court gave Plaintiff 30 days 21 to file an amended complaint that cured the deficiencies identified in the Order. 22 On August 20, 2019, Plaintiff filed his First Amended Complaint. In an August 27, 23 2019 Order, the Court dismissed the First Amended Complaint because Plaintiff had failed 24 to state a claim. The Court gave Plaintiff 30 days to file a second amended complaint that 25 cured the deficiencies identified in the Order. 26 On September 19, 2019, Plaintiff filed two Motions for Written Pleading (Docs. 10, 27 11.) On September 20, 2019, Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint (Doc. 12). The 28 1 Court will deny the Motions for Written Pleading and dismiss the Second Amended 2 Complaint and this action. 3 I. Statutory Screening of Prisoner Complaints 4 The Court is required to screen complaints brought by prisoners seeking relief 5 against a governmental entity or an officer or an employee of a governmental entity. 28 6 U.S.C. § 1915A(a). The Court must dismiss a complaint or portion thereof if a plaintiff 7 has raised claims that are legally frivolous or malicious, that fail to state a claim upon which 8 relief may be granted, or that seek monetary relief from a defendant who is immune from 9 such relief. 28 U.S.C. § 1915A(b)(1)–(2). 10 A pleading must contain a “short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 11 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2) (emphasis added). While Rule 8 does 12 not demand detailed factual allegations, “it demands more than an unadorned, the- 13 defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation.” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 14 (2009). “Threadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 15 conclusory statements, do not suffice.” Id. 16 “[A] complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to ‘state a 17 claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Id. (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 18 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim is plausible “when the plaintiff pleads factual content 19 that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 20 misconduct alleged.” Id. “Determining whether a complaint states a plausible claim for 21 relief [is] . . . a context-specific task that requires the reviewing court to draw on its judicial 22 experience and common sense.” Id. at 679. Thus, although a plaintiff’s specific factual 23 allegations may be consistent with a constitutional claim, a court must assess whether there 24 are other “more likely explanations” for a defendant’s conduct. Id. at 681. 25 But as the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has instructed, courts 26 must “continue to construe pro se filings liberally.” Hebbe v. Pliler, 627 F.3d 338, 342 27 (9th Cir. 2010). A “complaint [filed by a pro se prisoner] ‘must be held to less stringent 28 1 standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.’” Id. (quoting Erickson v. Pardus, 551 2 U.S. 89, 94 (2007) (per curiam)). 3 II. Second Amended Complaint 4 Plaintiff is charged in Yavapai County Superior Court case ##P-1300-CR- 5 201900295, P-1300-CR-201900296, and P-1300-CR-2019003301 with multiple felony and 6 misdemeanor charges. 7 In his four-count Second Amended Complaint, Plaintiff sues the State of Arizona, 8 Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, Deputy Count Attorney Josh Fisher, Yavapai 9 County Superior Court Judge John Napper, Attorney Stephanie Willison, Prescott Police 10 Department Detective Frasconie, and Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher. Plaintiff 11 asserts claims related to his pending criminal proceedings, property, and medical care. He 12 seeks release to pretrial services, dismissal of his criminal proceedings, release of his 13 personal property to his power of attorney, and for Defendants Frasconie and Napper to 14 face criminal charges. 15 In Count One, Plaintiff alleges the State of Arizona is unlawfully holding him and 16 prosecuting him on false charges. He asserts his current bail is a $25,000 cash only bond, 17 which he claims is excessive. Plaintiff alleges the felonies he has been charged with do 18 not appear in “[Arizona] Supreme Court dockets.” He asserts that Defendant Polk signed 19 Plaintiff’s allegedly false charges as a true bill, and Defendant Fisher is maliciously 20 prosecuting Plaintiff. Plaintiff claims Defendant Napper was presented with a “hardship 21 case,” that is, letters and testimony regarding Plaintiff’s mother passing away. Plaintiff 22 alleges Defendant Napper did not accept Plaintiff’s letter and instead sent it to Plaintiff’s 23 defense attorney, Defendant Willison. Plaintiff asserts that on September 16, 2019, 24 Defendant Napper “was told” about Plaintiff’s mother’s death and the date of her funeral, 25 and Plaintiff asked for a temporary release to attend the funeral. Plaintiff claims Defendant 26 Napper denied Plaintiff’s request, and Defendant Willison did nothing to present Plaintiff’s

27 1 See https://apps.supremecourt.az.gov/publicaccess/caselookup.aspx (search by 28 last name “Welch,” first name “Ryan” in Yavapai County Superior Court) (last accessed Sept. 26, 2019). Most recently, the trial court appointed new counsel to represent Plaintiff. 1 “hardship case.” Plaintiff alleges that Willison also did not seal motions or letters in the 2 court case file. 3 Plaintiff asserts that he filed a motion for a Torres2 hearing to remove Defendant 4 Willison as his attorney, and on September 16, 2019, Defendant Napper “approved the 5 hearing.” Plaintiff claims the hearing was held the following day, and Defendant Willison 6 was “fired” for not presenting Plaintiff’s hardship case. Plaintiff alleges Defendant Napper 7 was “reminded again” that day of Plaintiff’s hardship case and his mother’s funeral, but 8 Defendant Napper refused to grant Plaintiff relief, resulting in cruel and unusual 9 punishment. As his injury, Plaintiff claims he suffered serious emotional damage and 10 heartache, serious financial damage, loss of all personal property, and slander of his “legal 11 name” and the reputation of his small business. 12 In Count Two, Plaintiff alleges Defendant Frasconie seized Plaintiff’s cell phone 13 and searched the phone without a warrant. Plaintiff asserts the cell phone was not used as 14 a weapon and appears to claim it therefore could not be searched without a warrant. 15 Plaintiff claims that when he asked for the cell phone to be released to his power of attorney 16 because the cell phone was not evidence, the Prescott Police Department refused to release 17 the cell phone.

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Welch v. Prescott Police Department, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welch-v-prescott-police-department-azd-2019.