Harris v. Town of Southern Pines

110 F.4th 633

Lee Marvin HARRIS, Sr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TOWN OF SOUTHERN PINES; Officer Jason Perry, Sued in his individual capacity; Officer Sean Lowrey, Sued in his individual capacity; Officer Kyle Marsh, Sued in his individual capacity; Chief of Police Robert Temme, Sued in his official and individual capacity, Defendants-Appellees National Police Accountability Project, Amicus Supporting Appellant.

No. 23-1791

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit

Argued: May 9, 2024

Decided: August 5, 2024

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, at Greensboro. William L. Osteen, Jr., District Judge. (1:21-cv-00955-WO-JEP)

ARGUED: Abraham Rubert-Schewel, TIN FULTON WALKER & OWEN, PLLC, Durham, North Carolina, for Appellant. Christian Ferlan, HALL BOOTH SMITH, P.C., Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Scott D. MacLatchie, HALL BOOTH SMITH, P.C., Charlotte, North Carolina, for Appellees. Keisha James, Lauren Bonds, NATIONAL POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT, New Orleans, Louisiana; Rob Rickner, RICKNER PLLC, New York, New York, for Amicus Curiae.

Before KING, GREGORY, and RUSHING, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, reversed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge Gregory wrote the opinion, in which Judge King joined. Judge Rushing wrote a dissenting opinion.

GREGORY, Circuit Judge:

While executing a search warrant at the home of Lee Marvin Harris, Sr., law enforcement officers found a trafficking amount of cocaine in an old, inoperable Cadillac that was parked in the yard. They arrested Harris, Sr. for possessing cocaine with intent to distribute. Harris, Sr. spent approximately five months in pretrial detention before federal prosecutors dismissed all charges against him, and he was released. Harris, Sr. filed suit against the Town of Southern Pines and the officers involved in his arrest for malicious prosecution in violation of the Fourth Amendment and fabrication of evidence in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. He alleged that police officers had omitted material evidence from the prosecutors and grand juries involved in Harris, Sr.'s detention and charging decisions. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of all defendants, and Harris, Sr. appealed.

We hold that the record evinces genuine disputes of material fact bearing on whether Harris, Sr. was arrested and charged without probable cause, and that the officers are not entitled to qualified immunity for the Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim. We further hold that a plaintiff who was not convicted of a crime, but was arrested and detained for several months, can still state a Fourteenth Amendment fabrication of evidence claim, and the district court erred in holding otherwise. We therefore (1) reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment to Officer Jason Perry, Officer Sean Lowery, and Lieutenant Kyle Marsh in their individual capacities as to Harris, Sr.'s Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim, (2) vacate the district court's grant of summary judgment to the same defendants as to his Fourteenth Amendment fabrication of evidence claim, and (3) remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. We affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment as to the state law malicious prosecution claim, the failure to intervene claim, and the claim under Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978), against the Town of Southern Pines and the Chief of Police in his official capacity.

I.

A.

Much of the context for these claims is undisputed. Harris, Sr. lives at 803 N. Sycamore Street in Aberdeen, North Carolina, with his wife. J.A. 194.¹ His son, Lee Harris, Jr., lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his girlfriend but stays at his father's home on Sycamore Street when he is visiting the area. Id. On February 20, 2018, Southern Pines police officers obtained and executed a search warrant for 803 N. Sycamore Street. J.A. 142. When officers arrived at the home that day, Harris, Sr. was the only person there. J.A. 41-42. Officers detained him in the back of a police vehicle where Appellee Officer Jason Perry gave him a Miranda warning and subsequently questioned him. J.A. 42. While being questioned by Officer Perry, Harris, Sr. said that his son had not been home in months. J.A. 138-39. The officers knew from prior surveillance of the property that this was not true. J.A. 242.

Simultaneously, Appellee Lieutenant Officer Kyle Marsh oversaw the search of a covered Cadillac parked in the yard. Officers conducted a dog sniff search, and the K-9 alerted officers to the odor of narcotics in the vehicle. J.A. 51. An officer pulled away the cover from the vehicle and observed what appeared to be narcotics through the window. Id. Lieutenant Marsh ran the license plate and confirmed that the vehicle was registered to Harris, Sr. but that the registration had expired. J.A. 68. Lieutenant Marsh opened the unlocked driver-side door and immediately recognized the smell of cocaine. J.A. 51. He located a set of digital scales, a plastic bag wrapped in layers of plastic, 88 grams of a white powdery substance later confirmed to be cocaine, and 13 grams of a white rock substance later confirmed to be cocaine base. J.A. 51-52, 208. The cocaine was packaged in the same manner as cocaine found at the house of a Hispanic man known to be Harris, Jr.'s supplier.

After this discovery, Lieutenant Marsh asked Harris, Sr. to show him where the keys to the Cadillac were. J.A. 52. Harris, Sr. took Lieutenant Marsh to his bedroom door, where the keys were hanging on a rack. Id. Harris, Sr. correctly described to the officers which doors on the Cadillac were locked and unlocked, that it was missing a battery, and that the trunk would not open. J.A. 139. Officers then arrested Harris, Sr. for possessing the cocaine and cocaine base found in the Cadillac.

B.

Harris, Sr. is a disabled veteran and an ordained minister who serves as an elder at New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church. J.A. 115. He has filed at least one misconduct complaint against Officer Perry (which was subsequently investigated and dismissed). J.A. 258. He has also supported other community members in navigating the criminal justice system and lodging complaints against local officers. J.A. 116-17.

In February 2017, one year prior to the search of Harris, Sr.'s home, the Southern Pines Police Department began an investigation into increasing drug activity in the Southern Pines area. J.A. 125. Lieutenant Marsh oversaw the investigation (entitled "Operation Leader"), and Officers Perry and Sean Lowery were the primary investigators. J.A. 124-25. The investigation identified a number of suspects operating under the name "Dope Boy Clic" or "DBC." J.A. 40. Harris, Jr. was the leader of the DBC, and Robert McRae was one of its members. J.A. 40-41. The DBC sold drugs at an abandoned house at 811 W. New York Avenue in Southern Pines, which the parties refer to as "the trap house." J.A. 41.

Investigators also discovered that Harris, Jr. used a storage locker in Aberdeen, North Carolina, to keep and sell drugs. J.A. 198. They placed GPS trackers on the two cars he used and discovered that on several occasions he drove directly from his father's home to the storage locker or the trap house, or from the storage locker or trap house directly to his father's home. J.A. 265-303. For example, on one day he drove from the storage unit to his father's house, where, according to the investigator's notes, he went "to the rear of the home, out of sight" for "approximately 2 to 3 minutes." J.A. 241, 280-81. He left the house about 15 minutes later and drove to the trap house where he engaged in a drug drop and a separate drug sale. J.A. 281.

During the investigation, officers also conducted surveillance at Harris, Sr.'s home by concealing themselves in the woods near the house. Throughout that time, they never saw Harris, Sr. near the covered Cadillac.

C.

The two relevant disputed facts concern (1) an interaction between Harris, Sr. and DBC-member McRae in front of the trap house, and (2) what officers observed while conducting in-person surveillance of Harris, Sr.'s home. As to the former, the record contains surveillance video footage of the street in front of the trap house. Officer Perry viewed this footage, which is how he learned of the interaction. J.A. 41. It is undisputed that Harris, Sr.'s mother-in-law lived in the house next to the trap house. J.A. 122-23. Officer Perry testified during his deposition that he knew this to be "[h]er listed address" at the time. Id.

The relevant part of the record consists of three videos. The first, numbered Exhibit 15, shows Harris, Sr. exiting his truck just to the left of the trap house, having apparently just arrived, and then walking off the left side of the screen in the direction of his mother-in-law's house. The second exhibit, Exhibit 17, which is numbered as the third video but appears to be the second video chronologically based on the footage, opens with McCrae arriving in his car, towing his mobile car washing business. The ignition of Harris, Sr.'s truck then turns on and the truck drives across the screen, past the trap house, and disappears off the right side of the screen. It is followed by McRae's vehicle, which the driver turns such that it backs behind Harris, Sr.'s truck, stopping such that the front fender can barely be seen on the right side of the screen and with the mobile car washing unit presumably stopped closest to Harris, Sr.'s truck off screen. Harris, Sr. then walks across the screen on foot, coming from the left side where his mother-in-law's house is. Because his truck disappeared from view on the right side of the screen moments before Harris, Sr. appears on the left, someone else must have been driving his truck. Harris, Sr. and McRae walk from opposite...