Opinion ID: 689953
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Briscoe v. LaHue and Its Progeny

Text: 11 In Briscoe, the Court held that a police officer had absolute immunity from suit under Sec. 1983 for giving perjured testimony at the defendant's criminal trial. The Court rooted its holding in the absolute immunity granted at common law to witnesses who participated in judicial proceedings. At common law, the Court observed, courts were concerned that a witness who was apprehensive about subsequent damages liability might be reluctant to testify, or if the witness did testify, might distort his or her testimony because of fear of liability. Id. at 333, 103 S.Ct. at 1114. Protection for witnesses in the form of absolute immunity was aimed to allay these concerns. Section 1983, the Court added, did not abrogate the absolute immunity existing at common law. Id. Finally, the Briscoe Court noted, functional categories, rather than the status of the defendant, governed immunity analysis: because police officers on the witness stand performed the same functions and were subject to the same procedural safeguards as any private witnesses, these officers should be entitled to the same absolute immunity from liability under Sec. 1983 that private witnesses enjoyed. Id. at 342-43, 103 S.Ct. at 1119-20. 12 While Briscoe addressed the availability of absolute immunity from Sec. 1983 liability for testimony given at trial, the issue presented here is whether absolute immunity extends to allegedly perjured testimony given by a police officer during certain pretrial proceedings--specifically, a preliminary hearing to determine whether probable cause existed to support a warrantless arrest, and again at a hearing on a motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence. The Briscoe Court explicitly declined to decide whether a witness is absolutely immune from suit based on testimony given at pretrial proceedings such as probable cause hearings, id. at 329 n. 5, 103 S.Ct. at 1112 n. 5, and this question represents one of first impression in this circuit. 13 This court has held that police officers testifying before a grand jury are entitled to absolute immunity. Kincaid v. Eberle, 712 F.2d 1023, 1023-24 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1018, 104 S.Ct. 551, 78 L.Ed.2d 725 (1983). In Kincaid, a one paragraph, per curiam opinion based on a pro se brief and decided without oral argument, we noted that the argument for absolute immunity is stronger in the grand jury setting than in the trial setting, because false testimony before the grand jury is less harmful than false testimony at trial; the grand jury can indict, but cannot convict. Id. at 1024. Kincaid, however, has not been extended beyond the grand jury context, see Juriss v. McGowan, 957 F.2d 345, 348 (7th Cir.1992) (Kincaid absolute immunity applied only to defendant officer's grand jury testimony, and not to officer's making of alleged false arrest), and at least two other courts have called into question Kincaid 's precedential value. See Wheeler v. Cosden Oil & Chem. Co., 734 F.2d 254, 261 n. 16 (5th Cir.) (criticizing Kincaid as unpersuasive and cursory in the extreme), modified on other grounds, 744 F.2d 1131 (5th Cir.1984); White v. Frank, 680 F.Supp. 629, 636 n. 10 (S.D.N.Y.1988) (describing the opinion as being of uncertain ... persuasiveness and lack[ing] any in-depth consideration of the various factors at work in the Briscoe decision), appeal dismissed on other grounds, 855 F.2d 956 (2d Cir.1988). 14 The majority of the circuits have afforded absolute immunity to witnesses, including police officers, charged under Sec. 1983 for their allegedly perjurious testimony at various types of pretrial proceedings. See Moore v. McDonald, 30 F.3d 616, 619-20 (5th Cir.1994) (deputy sheriff's testimony in criminal defendant's pretrial suppression hearing absolutely immune); Strength v. Hubert, 854 F.2d 421, 423-25 (11th Cir.1988) (investigator for state attorney general's office entitled to absolute immunity regarding grand jury testimony); Daloia v. Rose, 849 F.2d 74, 75-76 (2d Cir.) (FBI agents and police officer entitled to absolute immunity for testimony at pretrial suppression hearing), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 898, 109 S.Ct. 242, 102 L.Ed.2d 231 (1988); Williams v. Hepting, 844 F.2d 138, 142-43 (3d Cir.) (prosecution witness who testified at preliminary hearing absolutely immune), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 851, 109 S.Ct. 135, 102 L.Ed.2d 107 (1988); Holt v. Castaneda, 832 F.2d 123, 125-27 (9th Cir.1987) (police officer received absolute immunity for testimony during preliminary examination and a hearing on motion to quash search warrants), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 979, 108 S.Ct. 1275, 99 L.Ed.2d 486 (1988); Macko v. Byron, 760 F.2d 95, 97 (6th Cir.1985) (grand jury witnesses absolutely immune); San Filippo v. U.S. Trust Co., 737 F.2d 246, 254 (2d Cir.1984) (noting in dictum that immunity would be available to a grand jury witness), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1035, 105 S.Ct. 1408, 84 L.Ed.2d 797 (1985); Briggs v. Goodwin, 712 F.2d 1444, 1448-49 (D.C.Cir.1983) (federal prosecutor absolutely immune for sworn statement at a hearing on a motion during the grand jury phase of an investigation), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1040, 104 S.Ct. 704, 79 L.Ed.2d 169 (1984); but see Krohn v. United States, 742 F.2d 24, 31 (1st Cir.1984) (police officer not entitled to absolute immunity for statements made in the course of obtaining arrest warrant); Wheeler v. Cosden Oil & Chem. Co., 734 F.2d 254, 261 (5th Cir.) (absolute immunity not afforded to false testimony submitted at probable cause determination), modified on other grounds, 744 F.2d 1131 (5th Cir.1984). 15 Moreover, the policy considerations for granting absolute immunity to witnesses testifying at trial apply with equal force to witness testimony in adversarial pretrial settings. Moore v. McDonald, 30 F.3d 616, 619 (5th Cir.1994) (citing Holt v. Castaneda, 832 F.2d 123, 125 (9th Cir.1987)).  'Whether testifying at trial or in a pretrial proceeding, a witness who knows he may be subjected to costly and time-consuming civil litigation for offering testimony that he is unable to substantiate may consciously or otherwise shade his testimony in such a way as to limit potential liability.'  Id. (quoting Holt, 832 F.2d at 125). Because of such tendencies to shade testimony, witness immunity is accorded to encourage full disclosure as a means of ascertaining the truth. Id. In adversarial pretrial matters, as in trials, the witness testifies in court, under oath, under the supervision of an impartial judge, and is subject to criminal penalty for perjury. Furthermore, in both types of proceedings, the witness is available for cross-examination. Id.; Holt, 832 F.2d at 125. Because Bembenek's testimony at both the preliminary hearing and the pretrial suppression hearing was made under oath and subject to cross-examination,  '[w]e see no principled basis for distinguishing between the [adversarial] pretrial proceedings and the trial on the merits in determining whether absolute immunity should be granted to a police officer witness.'  Moore, 30 F.3d at 619 (quoting Holt, 832 F.2d at 125). 16 Accordingly, we conclude that Bembenek is entitled to absolute immunity under Briscoe and its progeny for his testimony at both the preliminary hearing and the hearing on Curtis' motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence. 17