Opinion ID: 3065924
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Joseph Arpaio

Text: The district court held that Lacey failed to state a claim against Arpaio under each § 1983 cause of action pled, which are the same as those against Wilenchik. Lacey appeals this determination.
[22] Many of the same facts that support Lacey’s claims against Wilenchik for First Amendment retaliation—an intrusive investigation and arrests designed to chill his speech and press rights—also sustain the claim against Arpaio. But Arpaio is alleged to have been at it for much longer: his efforts to muffle the New Times preceded Wilenchik’s appointment by more than two years. He pressured county attorneys in Maricopa and Pinal counties to prosecute, even after attorneys in both counties concluded there was no case. FAC ¶¶ 53-55 (Maricopa County declined to prosecute); id. at ¶¶ 58-65 (Pinal County declined to prosecute). Allegedly, Arpaio was involved in the decision to appoint Wilenchik; was complicit in Wilenchik’s efforts to investigate and prosecute the New Times, Lacey, and Larkin; and ordered the 10044 LACEY v. MARICOPA COUNTY arrests. See id. at ¶ 67 (“Wilenchik was hired by Thomas and Arpaio.”); id. at ¶ 80 (Wilenchik acted with “the approval and support of Arpaio.”); id. at ¶ 25 (Arpaio’s top aide claims to have “personally ordered the arrests.”); id. at ¶ 103 (“Defendants dispatched Arpaio’s aptly named ‘Selective Enforcement Unit’ . . to arrest Plaintiffs.”); id. at ¶ 110 (“Wilenchik has publicly claimed the arrests were conducted, authorized, approved, and/or directed by Arpaio and/or his aides.”); id. at ¶ 114 (Arpaio “applied unfair pressure and demands upon prosecutorial bodies, abusing the power of his office and influence, to investigate, prosecute, arrest, and jail Plaintiffs for improper and unconstitutional motives . . . based on the content of their speech.”). [23] We have little difficulty concluding that Arpaio is not entitled to qualified immunity on Lacey’s First Amendment retaliation claims. Lacey may proceed on those claims.
[24] Lacey has pled sufficient facts to permit a trier of fact to find that Arpaio was personally involved in the arrests. Although Arpaio has denied ordering the arrests, Wilenchik “has publicly claimed the arrests were conducted, authorized, approved, and/or directed by Arpaio and/or his aides.” FAC ¶ 110; see also FAC ¶ 114 (“[Arpaio] and/or his Office and top officials and ‘Selective Enforcement Unit’ ordered and/or made the late-night arrests and jailings.”). As we have previously mentioned, both Wilenchik’s former partner, William French, and Wilenchik’s staff stated that Wilenchik and his lawyers “authorize[d] and advise[d] Arpaio to conduct the arrests.” FAC ¶ 111. Lacey’s claim against Arpaio for false arrest for violating the grand jury secrecy statute is more difficult for him to establish because it requires proof that Arpaio knew there was no probable cause, which in turn requires that Lacey show that Arpaio knew the subpoenas were invalid. The time frame LACEY v. MARICOPA COUNTY 10045 for Arpaio to learn this is narrow, because the arrests were effected the same evening as the publication of the subpoenas’ contents. Given the close relationship between Wilenchik and Arpaio, Wilenchik may well have communicated something about the subpoenas to Arpaio, and Arpaio may have known, as Wilenchik knew, that the subpoenas were invalid and there was no violation of the grand jury secrecy statute. On the other hand, if Wilenchik merely communicated that the statute had been violated, or represented that the subpoenas were valid, Arpaio’s reliance on this assertion could be reasonable. See Torres v. City of L.A., 548 F.3d 1197, 1212 (9th Cir. 2008) (“[W]here an officer has an objectively reasonable, good-faith belief that he is acting pursuant to proper authority, he cannot be held liable if the information supplied by other officers turns out to be erroneous. The lynchpin is whether the officer’s reliance on the information was objectively reasonable.” (citation omitted) (quoting Motley v. Parks, 432 F.3d 1072, 1082 (9th Cir. 2005) (en banc)) (internal quotation marks omitted)). Similarly, if Arpaio were disengaged from Wilenchik’s investigation and heard only about the publication of grand jury material, it might be a reasonable mistake to believe that a crime had been committed. There are other circumstances surrounding the arrests that may suggest that Arpaio either knew or should have known that something was amiss. Although the grand jury disclosure violation was just a misdemeanor, he dispatched his special unit to arrest Lacey and Larkin at their homes in the middle of the night. Sheriff Arpaio should have known that arresting someone at his home requires a warrant, unless there are exigent circumstances. See Fisher v. City of San Jose, 558 F.3d 1069, 1074-75 (9th Cir. 2009) (en banc). No warrant for Lacey’s or Larkin’s arrest had been issued, and we cannot fathom what exigent circumstances compelled either arrest. See Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 403 (2006). Officers “have an ongoing duty to make appropriate inquiries regarding the facts received or to further investigate if insufficient details are relayed.” Motley, 432 F.3d at 1081 (9th Cir. 10046 LACEY v. MARICOPA COUNTY 2005). The strange circumstances made it objectively unreasonable for Arpaio to rely on the bare claim that a misdemeanor had been committed earlier in the day, without any information about exigent circumstances, to justify the arrests of Lacey and Larkin at their homes. [25] Given the detail in the complaint and the seriousness of the allegations, we are reluctant to dismiss the false arrest claim against Arpaio on the basis of the pleadings. Iqbal demands more of plaintiffs than bare notice pleading, see Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 677-78; Twombly, 550 U.S. at 562-63, but it does not require us to flyspeck complaints looking for any gap in the facts. Lacey has spun a long and sometimes repetitive narration of Arpaio’s determination to silence the New Times by any means necessary. It is a short step to infer that Arpaio was well aware of the flaws in Wilenchik’s prosecution, but welcomed the excuse to have Lacey and Larkin arrested immediately, even if he lacked probable cause. We think this is all Iqbal requires at this stage.16 [26] Arpaio is therefore not entitled to qualified immunity on the false arrest claim, and Lacey may proceed with it.
[27] For the same reasons discussed above, the district court properly dismissed Lacey’s malicious prosecution cause of action against Arpaio.
[28] As with the First Amendment claim, and for largely the same reasons we allowed this claim to go forward against Wilenchik, the complaint adequately alleges that Arpaio acted 16 Additionally, as we discuss in Section IV.D, Lacey has pled conspiracy between Wilenchik and Arpaio. From the conspiratorial acts, a trier of fact may also infer false arrest. LACEY v. MARICOPA COUNTY 10047 with the requisite intent and had a sufficient causal connection to the selective enforcement against the New Times. Arpaio was part and parcel of the effort to prosecute the New Times, even if he was not the prosecutor. See Hartman, 547 U.S. at 262 (“[A] plaintiff . . . must show that the nonprosecuting official acted in retaliation, and must also show that he induced the prosecutor to bring charges that would not have been initiated without his urging.”). The Lebowitz Memorandum admits that Arpaio wanted the New Times prosecuted because it was “historically anti-Arpaio” and had written articles critical of Arpaio using “inflammatory, insulting, [and] vituperative” language. FAC, Ex. 1, at 8. This, along with the other evidence discussed above, is sufficient to show Arpaio’s discriminatory intent and the discriminatory effect of singling out the New Times. Further, as with the First Amendment claim, Arpaio’s insistence on prosecution, his role in the selection of Wilenchik, and his relationship with Wilenchik during the investigation provide a sufficient causal connection to the foreseeable result that Wilenchik would indeed investigate the New Times, resulting in its being singled out for enforcement. See Hartman, 547 U.S. at 264 (“[E]vidence that a prosecutor was nothing but a rubber stamp for his investigative staff or the police” would be “of great significance.”). [29] Arpaio is not entitled to qualified immunity on Lacey’s selective enforcement claim and he may proceed on that cause of action.