Hinkle v. Beckham Cnty. Bd. of Cnty. Commissioners

962 F.3d 1204

Laramie Sterling HINKLE, Plaintiff - Appellant,andJarrod Hinkle, Plaintiff,

v.BECKHAM COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS; Scott Jay, in his individual capacity; Strider Estep, Deputy Sheriff, in his individual capacity, Defendants - Appellees.

No. 18-6202

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

FILED June 22, 2020

Brently C. Olsson (Mark S. Rains with him on the briefs), of Cheek Law Firm, PLLC, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Plaintiff-Appellant, Laramie Hinkle.

Wellon B. Poe (Jamison C. Whitson with him on the brief), of Collins Zorn & Wagner, P.C., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Defendants-Appellees, Scott Jay and Strider Estep.

Carson C. Smith (Robert S. Lafferrandre with him on the brief), of Pierce Couch Hendrickson Baysinger & Green, L.L.P., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Defendant-Appellee, Beckham County Board of County Commissioners.

Before TYMKOVICH, Chief Judge, PHILLIPS, and McHUGH, Circuit Judges.

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.

A series of coincidences and mistaken beliefs led to the arrest of Laramie Hinkle for possessing a stolen trailer that was not even stolen. And things got worse from there. Despite Hinkle's recently having served as police chief in a nearby Oklahoma town and having voluntarily presented himself for booking, the sheriff's office immediately subjected him to a body-cavity strip search. Soon after that, the sheriff published a press release on his office's website chock full of incriminating allegations from the deputy's arrest-warrant affidavit. After further investigation showed Hinkle innocent, he sued, alleging as unlawful his arrest, the press release, and the body-cavity strip search. We sympathize with Hinkle. But we conclude that the deputy sheriff had probable cause for the arrest, that the deputy arrested Hinkle based on that probable cause, and that the district court did not err in dismissing Hinkle's claim that the sheriff issued the press release to retaliate against Hinkle. That said, we conclude that the body-cavity strip search was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. And because this unlawful search was based on the County's indiscriminate strip-search policy, we hold that the County is directly liable. Accordingly, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

A. The Investigation

On November 6, 2012, Scott Jay defeated a challenger to win re-election as the Beckham County Sheriff. The next day, Laramie Hinkle resigned his office as the Chief of Police for Erick, Oklahoma, situated in Beckham County. Hinkle had supported Sheriff Jay's opponent during the campaign.¹

In May 2013, Rod and Lynne Smith reported to the Beckham County Sheriff's Office that for the past two weeks someone had abandoned a trailer on their property. Mr. Smith told Deputy Strider Estep that Hinkle or Hinkle's father-in-law, Vaughn Keown, might own the trailer. Keown had recently done some work for the Smiths on their property.

Deputy Estep went to the Smiths’ property and viewed the trailer. He wrote down its vehicle identification number (VIN) and information from a trailer-dealership decal. Deputy Estep accessed the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, but that revealed nothing suggesting that the trailer had been stolen. Next, after seeing its name on the decal, Deputy Estep called T-N-J Trailers, a South Carolina trailer dealership. A dealership representative told him that the Carpenter's Church in Anderson, South Carolina, had bought the trailer in 2001.

Deputy Estep called the church and told its pastor that "a trailer was located in [the] county and that he was trying to discover the owner[.]" Appellant's App. vol. 2 at 391. Deputy Estep described the trailer and provided its VIN. The next day, after "check[ing] into the matter," the pastor called Deputy Estep and confirmed that someone had stolen the trailer "from the church in 2003." Id. The pastor also told Deputy Estep that the church's insurer, the Palmetto Insurance Agency, had paid the church's claim for the stolen trailer. Finally, the pastor "asked Deputy Estep if the trailer was in Erick[,] Oklahoma." Id. When Deputy Estep confirmed that it was located "just outside Erick," the pastor "informed Deputy Estep that the only persons he could think of that would be in that area who might be in possession of the trailer were Laramie Hinkle or Vaughn Keown"—former members of the Carpenter's Church. Id.

With this information, Deputy Estep called the Anderson County Sheriff's Department about the 2003 trailer theft. That office confirmed the theft of a trailer as described but advised that its investigative report did not list a VIN for the trailer stolen from the Carpenter's Church.

Finally, Deputy Estep called the church's insurer, the Palmetto Insurance Agency. Its representative confirmed the pastor's account of the stolen trailer and its having paid the church's claim. Importantly, when Deputy Estep provided the Oklahoma trailer's VIN, the insurer told him that it matched the VIN of the stolen trailer.

Armed with this incriminating information, Deputy Estep ran a covert operation. On May 10, 2013, using the name "John Larson," Deputy Estep called Keown, who told him that Hinkle owned the trailer:

DEPUTY ESTEP: Hey, is this Vaughn?

VAUGHN KEOWN: Yes

DEPUTY ESTEP: Hey Vaughn, this is John Larson. I was out there on Lynne Smith's property the other day ...

VAUGHN KEOWN: On whose?

DEPUTY ESTEP: Lynne Smith's, just east of Erick over there.

VAUGHN KEOWN: Yeah.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Yeah, hey there's a little trailer out there, a little V-nose white trailer ...

VAUGHN KEOWN: Yeah

DEPUTY ESTEP: Hey, is that yours?

VAUGHN KEOWN: Umm ... Now who is this?

DEPUTY ESTEP: This is John Larson. Can you hear me?

VAUGHN KEOWN: ... I don't reckon I know you.

DEPUTY ESTEP: I'm from over by Cordell, I just do some work for them, just kind of a salesman, but I saw that trailer out there, and they said, uh, you there?

VAUGHN KEOWN: Yeah, I'm here. Are you interested in buying it or something?

DEPUTY ESTEP: No, nah, I was just out there the other day, and they said they didn't know whose it was, but they thought it might be yours, and I just was wondering if you were interested in selling that thing?

VAUGHN KEOWN: Um, I don't know. Actually, my son-in-law owns that. I can ask him.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. Who's your, is that, Laramie? They said it was either yours or Laramie's.

VAUGHN KEOWN: Really? Um, man you're breaking up something fierce.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Alright, hey, let me get to a better spot and I'll call you back.

Appellee's Suppl. App. vol. 1 at 00:10–00:12, 01:24–03:10.

Again using the "John Larson" alias, Deputy Estep called Hinkle to ask about the trailer:

LARAMIE HINKLE: Hello?

DEPUTY ESTEP: Is this Laramie?

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes, it is.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Hey, Laramie, this is John Larson, I know ol’ Lynne Smith over there in Erick.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes, sir.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Hey, I was over there the other day and we were just kind of tooling around their property and saw a little V nose trailer out there, about a 16 footer.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes, sir.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Yeah, hey, they said it might be yours or your father-in-law's, I called your father-in-law, he said it was yours.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Right.

DEPUTY ESTEP: And I was wondering if you would be willing to sell that thing.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Well, let me tell you something, Mark -- I mean, John, let me call you right back, can I get a number from you, I'm right in the middle of something here, and I need to try to take care of it, let me call you right back, okay, partner?

DEPUTY ESTEP: You there?

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes, sir. Can I call you right back? I'm right here in the middle something, I can't really -- let me call you right back, okay, partner?

Appellant's App. vol. 5 at 1105–06. About an hour later, at Deputy Estep's direction, Beckham County Deputy Brett Moore stopped Hinkle's automobile. And about fifteen minutes after that, Deputy Estep arrived and identified himself to Hinkle as the phone caller, "John Larson." Deputy Estep read Hinkle the Miranda warning, obtained Hinkle's consent to record their conversation, and began questioning Hinkle about the trailer.

Hinkle immediately told Deputy Estep that he had understood "John Larson" to be asking about a different trailer on someone else's property:

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. All right. Here's the deal, I called your father-in-law.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Is that Vaughn?

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. I described the trailer to him.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Right.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Down there on Lynne's place.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Right, yes, sir.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. And he said you're the one that owned that trailer, okay?

LARAMIE HINKLE: Okay. All right.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Because I'm the one that called and asked if somebody wanted to sell it.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Ok. Sure, sure, okay.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. I described the trailer to him.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Right.

DEPUTY ESTEP: That that V nose trailer that's down there.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Okay. Now, explain to me, you say V nose, explain to me what the --

DEPUTY ESTEP: Just a V.

LARAMIE HINKLE: I know, but is it a cargo trailer or what is it?

DEPUTY ESTEP: It's an enclosed trailer.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Okay. Enclosed trailer, now, that's the part I'm trying to get across.

DEPUTY ESTEP: All right. All right. And I talked to him and described the trailer to him, he said you were the one that owned it.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Yes, sir.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. Then I called you, you know, kind of described it to you, asked you if you were the one that owned it, and you said yeah.

LARAMIE HINKLE: No, no, wait a minute now, I'm thinking you were talking about a flatbed trailer that I had over here. I misunderstood.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay. Well, I told you the one over at Lynn's house, I kind of described it to you on the -- I got it on recording.

LARAMIE HINKLE: Okay. Well, that's fine, if you got a recording, but I'm telling you, I don't own an enclosed trailer, I own a flatbed trailer.

DEPUTY ESTEP: Okay.

LARAMIE HINKLE: I

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