Opinion ID: 4558524
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Participation in Interviews of and Reliance on

Text: Statements by Beal, Blair, and Stenger The Second Amended Complaint alleges that Vernon and the police investigators manipulated evidence and knowingly continued to investigate contradictory witness statements in the period leading up to Weimer’s arrest. Specifically, Vernon and the police continued to rely on Beal’s statements, despite the fact that one of his versions of Haith’s murder involved a man named “Lonnie,” who was incarcerated at the time of the murder. In addition, Vernon and several officers interviewed Blair at Vernon’s office, and, based on that interview and the contradictory statement allegedly written by Stenger, Vernon helped assemble a dive team to search a pond for evidence and interviewed Stenger’s counsel. Even though the written statement contradicted Blair’s account of Stenger’s involvement, and even though Stenger’s counsel denied that Stenger had authored the statement, the investigators continued to rely on the written statement in their investigation into Weimer. Given these allegations (which we assume here to be true), Vernon cannot show that the defense of absolute immunity appears clearly on the face of the complaint. See Fogle, 957 F.3d at 161. This alleged conduct—investigating leads before criminal charges have been filed—is more akin to 21 “the detective’s role in searching for the clues and corroboration that might give h[er] probable cause to recommend that a suspect be arrested” than “the advocate’s role in evaluating evidence and interviewing witnesses as [s]he prepares for trial.” Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259, 273 (1993); see id. at 274–75 (holding prosecutors were acting as detectives rather than advocates when they investigated a bootprint because, at the time, they lacked probable cause to arrest or initiate judicial proceedings against the suspect). And, again, although we resist bright-line rules based on the timing of the prosecutor’s alleged activities, the Second Amended Complaint alleges that this misconduct occurred months before Weimer was charged with Haith’s murder.