Scott v. Pritchett

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KENDRICK SCOTT, Plaintiff, v. DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT (DPD) SERGEANT WAYNE PRITCHETT; DPD OFFICER CATHERINE ADAMS; DPD OFFICER BARBARA SIMON; and DPD OFFICER ANTHONY JACKSON, Defendants.

No. 19-cv-12718

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division

December 28, 2021

OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT (ECF NO. 38)

Paul D. Borman, United States District Judge.

Based on post-conviction investigation, culminating in a 2018 Michigan Supreme Court decision reversing convictions, and the prosecution's decision not to re-prosecute, Plaintiff Kendrick Scott was released from prison in November 2018 after serving over two decades in prison, including over four years in solitary confinement, for the 1999 murder of Lisa Kindred. Justly Johnson, also convicted of the murder of Lisa Kindred, whose conviction was also reversed, was also released from prison the same day.

Plaintiff Kendrick Scott filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against four City of Detroit police officers alleging violations of his constitutional rights based upon alleged coercion of witness testimony to falsely inculpate Plaintiff Scott and Justly Johnson, and withholding of evidence. Justly Johnson filed a separate lawsuit against two of those City of Detroit Police officers, alleging essentially the same violations of his constitutional rights. (Case No 19-cv-12331.) Defendants filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 38), and Plaintiff Scott has filed a Response in opposition (ECF No. 39.) Defendants did not file a reply brief. The Court held a hearing on Defendants' motion on Thursday, December 9, 2021. For the reasons that follow, Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

1. Lisa Kindred is murdered between midnight and 1:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 9, 1999

On May 8, 1999, William Kindred, his wife Lisa Kindred, Mr. Kindred's eight-year-old stepson, Charmous (C.J.) Skinner, Jr., and the Kindreds' daughter Shelby (two years old) and son Dakota (a 10-day-old newborn), who lived in Roseville, Michigan, went to see the movie “Life” at a drive-in theater in Dearborn, Michigan. (ECF No. 41-11, Deposition of Charmous (C.J.) Skinner (Skinner Dep.) at pp. 5-6, PageID.2051-52.) After the movie ended, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Mr. Kindred announced that he wanted to stop by the home of his sister, Lillie Harris, who lived on Bewick Street on the east side of Detroit, to talk to her boyfriend, Verlin Miller, about purchasing a motorcycle. (Id. at p. 27, PageID.2073) (ECF No. 41-12, William Kindred Witness Statement (Kindred Statement) at p. 1, PageID.2133) (ECF No. 38-2, Investigator's Report at p. 1, PageID.344.) When the Kindred family arrived on Bewick Street, Lisa, who was driving, parked their minivan across the street from Miller's home and waited in the van with the three children while Mr. Kindred went inside the house. (Skinner Dep. at pp. 26-27, PageID.2072-73) (Kindred Statement at 1, PageID.2133.)

After about 20 to 30 minutes, Lisa Kindred grew impatient, walked up to the house, and spoke with Mr. Kindred about returning to the van. (Skinner Dep. at pp. 8, 27, PageID.2054, 2073.) Mr. Kindred said that he would be out shortly, and Lisa then returned to the minivan. (Id. at p. 9, PageID.2055) (Kindred Statement at PageID.2133.) As Lisa was opening the minivan's driver's-side door, her son C.J., Jr., who was sitting in the front passenger seat, heard a loud bang and saw a flash and the glass shatter. (Skinner Dep. at pp. 9-11, PageID.2055-57.) Lisa Kindred had been shot, but she managed to put the car in gear and speed up the street to a nearby gas station. (Id. at p. 15, PageID.2061.) Lisa then got out of the car and collapsed. (Id.) She was later pronounced dead at the hospital. (Investigator's Report at p. 1, PageID.344.)

According to Mr. Kindred, a few minutes after he told Lisa that he would be right out, he heard a noise that sounded like a car-door slamming. (Kindred Statement at p. 1, PageID.2133) When he and Mr. Miller opened the door of the house, they saw the minivan quickly speeding away and Mr. Kindred states that he saw an individual running across a vacant lot adjacent to where the van had been parked. (Id.) Mr. Kindred chased this fleeing person but failed to catch him or her. (Id.) Mr. Miller got in his pickup truck and drove around the area first looking for the individual, and then went to the gas station on the corner of Bewick and East Warren, where the minivan was parked. (ECF No. 38-2, Verlin Miller, Witness Statement (Miller Statement) at pp. 1-2, PageID.357-58.)

The medical examiner's report revealed that Lisa's death was caused by a single gunshot wound to the chest. (Investigator's Report at p. 1, PageID.344.) The minivan's driver's side window had been shattered, but nothing had been stolen from the minivan, and the children were not harmed, but were still in the vehicle when the police arrived at the scene. (ECF No. 41-17, Preliminary Complaint Record (Officer Scola), 5/9/1999, PageID.2574.) A .22 caliber spent casing was found in the street at the scene of the shooting on Bewick Street. (ECF No. 41-19, Deposition of Defendant Catherine Tuttle (formerly Adams) on July 16, 2020 (Adams Dep. II), at pp. 81-82, PageID.2748-49.)

2. Plaintiffs Kendrick Scott and Justly Johnson - at the time of the shooting

a. Plaintiff Scott

Somewhere between 11:00 p.m. on May 8, 1999 and 12:00 a.m. on May 9th, Plaintiff Kendrick Scott walked from his home on Hurlbut Street to his girlfriend Falynn Kenner's house on Bewick to obtain a cell phone. (ECF No. 38-4 Deposition of Kendrick Scott (Scott Dep.) at pp. 33-34, PageID.404-05.) Once at Ms. Kenner's house, Plaintiff Scott saw two persons, one of whom was carrying a rifle, walking in the alley near Ms. Kenner's home. (Id. at pp. 35-37, PageID.406-08.) Ms. Kenner let Plaintiff Scott into her home, and the two individuals with the rifle were seen walking by the home, toward the site of the shooting. (Id. at pp. 39-41, PageID.410-12.)

Plaintiff Scott then left Ms. Kenner's home and went in the opposite direction of the two men, to the home of his nephew, Quinton Billingslea, and Billingslea's girlfriend, Lakeniya Hicks, on Hurlbut, the street immediately west of Bewick.

(Id. at p. 43, PageID.414.)^[1] Plaintiff Scott stated that he went there because of the two suspicious men walking through the alley carrying a rifle. (Id.) (ECF No. 38-5, Deposition of Lakeniya Hicks (Hicks Dep.) at pp. 8-9, PageID.497-98.)

While Plaintiff Scott was inside Ms. Hicks's and Mr. Billingslea's home, they all heard a gunshot and then a car speed off. (Hicks Dep. at pp. 10-12, PageID.499-501) (Scott Dep. at p. 43, PageID.414.) Plaintiff Scott and Mr. Billingslea got into Mr. Billingslea's car and drove down to Bewick to see what had happened. (Scott Dep. at pp. 45-46, PageID.415-16) (Hicks Dep. at p. 11, PageID.500.) They stopped and spoke with Mr. Kindred's sister, Lillie Harris, who was pacing back and forth outside her house. (Scott Dep. at pp. 45-46, PageID.416-17.) Scott testified at his deposition that he could not remember what Ms. Harris said at that time (id.), but stated in his May 9, 1999 witness statement to the police that she had reported that one of her relatives had been kidnapped in a van with her kids. (Scott Statement, PageID.654.) Plaintiff Scott and Mr. Billingslea then drove around the block and Plaintiff Scott was dropped off at his home on Hurlbut. (Scott Dep. at p. 50, PageID.421.)

Plaintiff Scott then walked first to Ms. Kenner's house and then went four to five houses down to the home of Raymond Jackson. (Scott Dep. at pp. 54-55, PageID.425-26.) The two men walked to the gas station where Lisa Kindred had driven the minivan to see what was going on, and then walked to Plaintiff Scott's house. (Id. at pp. 56-57, PageID.427-28.) According to Plaintiff Scott, Justly Johnson and Antonio Bernette arrived at Scott's home shortly thereafter. (Id. at pp. 59-60, PageID.430-31.)

b. Justly Johnson

Justly Johnson testified that he was away from the neighborhood at the time of the shooting, driving around and attending several parties with his friends Antonio Bernette and Mike (last name unknown), starting at a little before midnight. (ECF No. 38-6, Deposition of Justly Johnson (Johnson Dep.) at pp. 29-33, PageID.576-79) (ECF No. 41-15, Deposition of Antonio Bernette (Bernette Dep.) at pp. 18-20, PageID.2263-65.) Around 1:15 am, Mike dropped Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bernette off near the gas station where Lisa Kindred had driven the minivan after the shooting. (Johnson Dep. at pp. 32-33, PageID.579-80.) The two men approached the gas station, but were told by police to get back, so they ended up walking to Mr. Scott's home on Hurlbut. (Id. at p. 33, PageID.580.)

When Mr. Johnson and Mr. Bernette got to Plaintiff Scott's house, they told Scott that something was occurring at the gas station, and Scott responded that something happened on Bewick and ended up at the gas station. (Id. at p. 34, PageID.581.) Mr. Johnson then called his girlfriend to come and pick him up and take him home, and Mr. Bernette crawled into Plaintiff Scott's car parked in front of Scott's house and went to sleep. Plaintiff Scott and Mr. Jackson went back to Mr. Jackson's house. (Scott Dep. at pp. 61-62, PageID.432-33) (Johnson Dep. at p. 34, PageID.581.)

3. The Detroit Police Department (DPD) responds and investigates Lisa Kindred's murder

At approximately 1:00 a.m. on May 9, 1999, DPD Officer Frank Scola and his partner responded to the scene of the shooting. (ECF No. 41-16, Deposition of Frank Scola (Scola Dep.) at...