William Shelton v. CMHA

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 14, 2026
Docket24-3933
StatusUnpublished

This text of William Shelton v. CMHA (William Shelton v. CMHA) 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
William Shelton v. CMHA, (6th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0026n.06

No. 24-3933

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT Jan 14, 2026 KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk

) WILLIAM J. SHELTON, ) Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ON APPEAL FROM THE ) UNITED STATES DISTRICT v. ) COURT FOR THE NORTHERN ) DISTRICT OF OHIO CUYAHOGA METROPOLITAN HOUSING ) AUTHORITY and GREGORY DREW, ) OPINION Defendants-Appellees. ) ) )

Before: MOORE, CLAY, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.

HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiff–appellant William Shelton sued the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority

(CMHA), alleging First Amendment and Title VII violations. The district court dismissed the First

Amendment claims as untimely and granted summary judgment in CMHA’s favor on the Title VII

claims. We AFFIRM.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Shelton was an officer with the CMHA police department, beginning his career in 2016.

He worked as a detective and sometimes joined SWAT team operations. His duties included

responding to service calls, enforcing CMHA policies, and securing CMHA properties.

Shelton also describes himself as a “rap artist.” Appellant’s Br. at 4. Others in CMHA

were aware that Shelton rapped, including CMHA Police Chief Andreas Gonzalez and Shelton’s

supervisor, Sergeant John Smiddy. Gonzalez may have even invited Shelton to perform at an No. 24-3933, Shelton v. CMHA

event. Shelton warned Gonzalez that his rap was “vulgar.” R. 46-3 PID 2002–03. However,

Shelton provides no evidence that anyone was aware of the following videos: “Head Shot,” which

depicts Shelton mock executing a “homeless man.” R. 13, PID 169; “WAP Remix – Dry Ass

Nookie,” which contains graphic sexual lyrics and depicts Shelton brandishing a knife while

stating, “Bitch I’m about to slay you.” R. 34-28, PID 1045–50; “The Great Man Challenge,” which

shows Shelton sitting in the front seat of his car, holding a gun in his hand and a faux alcohol bottle

in his lap, R. 34-1, PID 802–04; and “Bust Down Thotiana” and “Talk My Shit Challenge,” which

contain violent lyrics or derogatory comments about women. See R. 34-28, PID 1049–50.

Shelton has many social-media accounts, all of which are public. At least some of those

accounts depicted Shelton in his CMHA uniform. Shelton posted the above videos to his public

YouTube channel. Although his YouTube channel does not explicitly identify Shelton, his channel

is “linked” to his other social-media pages. R. 34-1, PID 773–75.

Shelton was required to know and adhere to CMHA’s policies and procedures, all of which

were detailed in CMHA’s “Rules and Regulations.” R. 34-1, PID 575. These Rules and

Regulations applied both when Shelton was on and off duty. Some of those Rules prohibited

officers from violating any law; being “disrespectful or discourteous” to members of the public;

or engaging in “any conduct, speech, or acts while . . . off duty that would . . . diminish the esteem

of CMHA.” R.34-34, PID 1058.

In “early” September 2020, Sergeant John Smiddy, Shelton’s supervisor, “became aware

of” the Head Shot video. R. 60-2, PID 2738. At some later point, Smiddy reported the video to

Lieutenant Drew and Commander Thomas Burdyshaw. On the same day that Drew and

Burdyshaw learned about the video, they reported it to Deputy Chief Victor McDowell. “A few

days later,” on September 18, 2020, during a regularly scheduled briefing conference, Drew and

-2- No. 24-3933, Shelton v. CMHA

Burdyshaw asked Chief Gonzalez if he had been briefed about Shelton’s videos. R. 36-1, PID

1129–31. Gonzalez then watched the Head Shot video, which he learned had also been circulating

throughout the department. Later that day, Gonzalez “escalated the matter to [his] supervisor,”

Chief Executive Officer Jeffery K. Patterson, informing him of the “disturbing videos.”

On that same day—September 18, 2020—at around 3:30 p.m., Shelton filed a workplace

harassment complaint (the details of which are discussed in the next paragraphs) with HR Director

Betsy McCafferty. By that time, Gonzalez had already contacted Patterson about Shelton’s video.

Shelton’s internal harassment complaint described twenty-four alleged incidents of racial

discrimination.1 Relevant here, Shelton complained that: Drew denied Shelton’s request to leave

the SWAT team; other officers were allowed to wear “Blue Lives Matter” facemasks, but Shelton

was instructed not to wear a Black Lives Matter facemask; supervisors made offensive comments,

such as “sometimes I don’t think you know your place,” and “OMG he is black.” R. 34-19, PID

1016–20.

CMHA retained outside counsel to investigate Shelton’s complaint. The investigation

addressed each of the allegations in a seventeen-page report, finding twenty-three of the twenty-

four allegations unsubstantiated, but that an officer “may have” made the “OMG he is black”

comment. R.38-1, PID 1299–1302. Aside from Shelton’s testimony regarding some of the above

allegations (i.e. officers’ comments and the facemask policy), his briefs do not cite evidence

beyond the allegations in his HR complaint.

On October 7, 2020, a few weeks after Shelton filed his HR complaint, CMHA placed him

on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation into alleged misconduct related to Shelton’s

1 Although Shelton’s brief mentions that his HR complaint “detailed . . . how [Shelton] was disciplined and treated differently than other similarly situated CMHA employees because of his race,” his briefing highlights only some of the HR complaint’s allegations. See Appellant’s Br. at 5–6.

-3- No. 24-3933, Shelton v. CMHA

videos. After a series of communications and meetings with Shelton, CMHA terminated Shelton’s

employment on January 29, 2021. The termination letter explained that Shelton violated CMHA’s

Policies and Procedures and Rules and Regulations when he posted “a series of videos of [him]self

on YouTube which contain[ed] certain lyrics and depictions of violence, and lyrics that are

derogatory and offensive to women and promote violence against women.” R. 34-34, PID 1058.

The letter then identified the five YouTube videos discussed above.

Shelton grieved his termination through his union on January 29, 2021, and filed an EEOC

discrimination complaint on February 17, 2021. An arbitrator reviewed Shelton’s grievance and

eventually returned Shelton to work on November 28, 2022. The arbitrator reasoned that CMHA

had failed to warn Shelton that his music could violate its policies, even though CMHA knew that

Shelton rapped. It also noted that no members of the public had complained about the videos.

During these arbitration proceedings, in March 2022, Shelton learned that, before firing

him, CMHA had retained outside legal counsel to evaluate some of Shelton’s videos. Gonzalez

testified in that arbitration proceeding that the review aimed to identify which videos were of

personal interest and which touched on matters of public concern. Gonzalez further testified that

he received a recommendation that he should “focus” his investigation on the five identified videos

to determine whether those violated CMHA policies. R. 46-2, PID 1770. Shelton alleges that

March 2022 was the first time he learned that outside counsel conducted what he calls a “First

Amendment assessment.” Appellant’s Br. at 8.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Shelton filed his initial complaint on March 10, 2023, against CMHA and his supervisor,

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William Shelton v. CMHA, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/william-shelton-v-cmha-ca6-2026.