Opinion ID: 569184
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: prolonged warrantless detention

Text: 23 The remaining issues do not implicate unsettled law or involve distinctions between the constitutional standards governing plaintiffs' claims and defendants' qualified immunity defense. Plaintiffs' allegations of unreasonably prolonged warrantless detention invoke settled fourth amendment principles predating the circumstances of this case. See, e.g., Gerstein v. Pugh, 420 U.S. 103, 114, 95 S.Ct. 854, 863, 43 L.Ed.2d 54 (1975) (the Fourth Amendment requires a judicial determination of probable cause as a prerequisite to extended restraint of liberty following arrest); Moore v. Marketplace Restaurant, Inc., 754 F.2d 1336, 1350-52 (7th Cir.1985); Bernard v. City of Palo Alto, 699 F.2d 1023, 1024-27 (9th Cir.1983); Fisher v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 690 F.2d 1133, 1140-41 (4th Cir.1982). 24 Although the Supreme Court has recently held that detentions for less than forty-eight hours may be considered reasonable in general, see County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1661, 1670, 114 L.Ed.2d 49 (1991), a detention for a lesser period may still be unconstitutional if the arrested individual can prove that his or her probable cause determination was delayed unreasonably. Examples of unreasonable delay are ... a delay motivated by ill will against the arrested individual, or delay for delay's sake. Id. In evaluating the reasonableness of the delay, courts must allow a substantial degree of flexibility, id., giving due consideration to the unavoidable delays resulting from handling late-night bookings where no magistrate is readily available, id. 25 The reasonableness of the detention is a matter for the trier of fact, Kanekoa v. City & County of Honolulu, 879 F.2d 607, 611-12 (9th Cir.1989); Moore, 754 F.2d at 1351-52, who must determine whether the period of detention is reasonable in light of all the circumstances accompanying arrest, including transportation, booking, filing, photographing, fingerprinting, identity verification, and criminal record 'wanted' checks, as well as the number of individuals to be processed with the detainee in question. Patrick v. Jasper County, 901 F.2d 561, 567 (7th Cir.1990); see Kanekoa, 879 F.2d at 611. Under the circumstances of this case, in which the specific facts are unsettled and disputed regarding both the length and the reasons for the delay, the district court's denial of summary judgment was proper. 5 Compare Kanekoa, 879 F.2d at 609 (reasonableness of intoxicated arrestees' detention for periods of nine and nineteen hours determined by jury) and Moore, 754 F.2d at 1350-52 (summary judgment reversed where four-hour detention following misdemeanor arrest raised fact issue regarding reasonableness) with Patrick, 901 F.2d at 570 (summary judgment affirmed where there is ample evidence in the record that [plaintiff's] four-hour detention is attributable to the processing ... of the sixty to eighty individuals brought to the [county jail] in connection with the 'drug bust' [that netted plaintiff]). 26 For the foregoing reasons, the order of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico is AFFIRMED and the cause is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent herewith.