Shannon v. Koehler - Northern District of Iowa

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Judge McCormick’s combined ruling on the public intoxication and interference with official acts charges is defendants’ Exhibit 1012. 9 Although this matter comes before me on the defendants’ motion to exclude Shannon’s acquittal for assault of a peace officer, I find that, before I can answer whether Shannon’s acquittals are admissible, the first question I must consider is whether Shannon’s criminal charges and interference with official acts conviction are admissible. If the charges and Shannon’s conviction are inadmissible, then Shannon does not intend to introduce evidence of his acquittals, and the defendants’ motion may be granted by agreement. However, if Shannon’s conviction and charges are admissible, then I must also consider whether his acquittals are admissible. To begin, I note that I must view the question of relevance in this case through the lens of the Fourth Amendment reasonableness standard, which governs claims for excessive force. See Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 395 (1989). Reasonableness “is viewed from the vantage point of the police officer at the time of arrest or seizure.” Gill v. Maciejewski, 546 F.3d 557, 562 (8th Cir. 2008) (citing Wertish v. Krueger, 433 F.3d 1062, 1066 (8th Cir. 2006)); Billingsley v. City of Omaha, 277 F.3d 990, 993 (8th Cir. 2002) (“The aforementioned reasonableness of force is judged from the perspective of the officer on the scene, taking into consideration the facts known to him, as opposed to one possessing the illuminating power of hindsight.”) (citing Nelson v. County of Wright, 162 F.3d 986, 989 (8th Cir. 1998)); Nelson, 162 F.3d at 990 (“The issue of reasonableness must be examined from the perspective of the facts known to the officer at the time of the 9 The defendants only request that I bar evidence of Shannon’s assault of a peace officer acquittal. Because Shannon argues that he should be allowed to introduce evidence of both of his acquittals if I allow evidence of his criminal charges and conviction, I will address both of the acquittals together. 20
incident.” (citing Schulz v. Long, 44 F.3d 643, 648 (8th Cir. 1995))). In evaluating the reasonableness of an official’s conduct, a court must pay “‘careful attention to the facts and circumstances of each particular case, including the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others, and whether [the suspect] is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.’” McKenney v. Harrison, 635 F.3d 354, 359 (8th Cir. 2011) (citing Graham, 490 U.S. at 396). I first address Shannon’s argument that not even the charges filed against him on September 13, 2006, are admissible. The Supreme Court has instructed that “the severity of the crime at issue” is relevant to determining the reasonableness of a police officer’s conduct. Graham, 490 U.S. at 396. The arresting charges against the plaintiff are often the appropriate basis for determining “the severity of the crime at issue.” See, e.g., Cook v. City of Bella Villa, 582 F.3d 840, 859 (8th Cir. 2009) (Shepherd, J., dissenting) (evaluating the severity of the offense by examining the crimes with which the defendant officer charged the plaintiff—resisting arrest and interfering with an officer, which were eventually dismissed—and analyzing whether the plaintiff “meaningfully engaged in th[ese] offense[s]”); Davis v. City of Albia, 434 F. Supp. 2d 692, 706 (S.D. Iowa 2006) (finding under Graham that, if the case had gone to trial, the plaintiff’s simple misdemeanor charges for interference with official acts and assault of a peace officer might have indicated to the jury that the “severity of the crime” was low, though the court ultimately determined that the claim was barred by qualified immunity); see also Solomon v. Auburn Hills Police Dep’t, 389 F.3d 167, 174 (6th Cir. 2004) (arrest for trespass was the basis for determining “the severity of the crime at issue”). But see Brown v. City of Golden Valley, 574 F.3d 491, 496 (8th Cir. 2009) (evaluating severity of the crime, where the plaintiff was charged with both an open bottle violation and obstruction of legal process, on the 21
Page 1 and 2: Not To Be Published: IN THE UNITED
Page 3 and 4: Plaintiff’s Second Motion In Limi
Page 5 and 6: However, Shannon alleges that he di
Page 7 and 8: B. Procedural Background On August
Page 9 and 10: On September 20, 2010, the defendan
Page 11 and 12: neither is sufficiently qualified t
Page 13 and 14: On May 17, 2011, Shannon filed his
Page 15 and 16: elevant is not admissible.” FED.
Page 17 and 18: intoxication in case number SMSM445
Page 19: Alternatively, Shannon asserts that
Page 23 and 24: of force was reasonable because the
Page 25 and 26: 10 (...continued) Dettman v. Krucke
Page 27 and 28: There are two primary reasons why a
Page 29 and 30: as a witness in the plaintiff’s c
Page 31 and 32: and his conviction for interference
Page 33 and 34: and (4) similar in kind and close i
Page 35 and 36: cannot use the July 2, 2005, compla
Page 37 and 38: substantially outweighed by the dan
Page 39 and 40: v. Int’l Coll. of Surgeons, 522 U
Page 41 and 42: B. Plaintiff’s Second Motion In L
Page 43 and 44: likely than most to be deterred fro
Page 45 and 46: Therefore, the defendants may only
Page 47 and 48: knew at the time. The defendants al
Page 49 and 50: e ‘dealt with as the circumstance
Page 51 and 52: Navrkal admitted she was intoxicate
Page 53 and 54: “probably” reflected what she b
Page 55 and 56: ecause it relies on an incomplete a
Page 57 and 58: determine a fact in issue, a witnes
Page 59 and 60: state], testimony in the form of an
Page 61 and 62: that although officers “acted cor
Page 63 and 64: whether Stine used reliable methods
Page 65 and 66: to grant the defendants’ request
Page 67 and 68: ) Defendants’ motion to exclude o

Shannon v. Koehler - Northern District of Iowa

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