Opinion ID: 150812
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hodges and Paulk's Pre-Indictment Investigation

Text: Distilled to its essence, Defendants' alleged pre-indictment conduct (excepting the subpoenas) is this: Hodges and Paulk, acting as investigators, got together as a favor to the hospital, with malice and without probable cause, and made up a story about Rehberg, and then Paulk (at Hodges's direction) told that fake story under oath to the grand jury, leading to Rehberg's indictment and arrest. We already determined supra that Paulk receives absolute immunity for the actual grand jury testimony itself. The question before us now is whether absolute immunity applies to the alleged conspiracy decision in the investigative stage to make up and present Paulk's false testimony to the grand jury. Our precedent answers this question too. See Mastroianni, 173 F.3d at 1367; Rowe, 279 F.3d at 1282; Jones, 174 F.3d at 1289. In Mastroianni, the plaintiff alleged defendant Yeomans, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, engaged in a pretestimonial conspiracy to present false evidence, for which neither absolute nor qualified immunity is available. Mastroianni, 173 F.3d at 1367. This Court first stressed that a witness has absolute immunity from civil liability based on his grand jury testimony. See Strength, 854 F.2d at 425, relying on Briscoe v. La Hue, 460 U.S. 325, 103 S.Ct. 1108, 75 L.Ed.2d 96[] (1983). Id. The Mastroianni Court then pointed out that while the plaintiff contend[ed] that Yeomans committed numerous acts in furtherance of a conspiracy to present false testimony before the grand jury convened, the record itself support[ed] such an inference only if we consider as evidence Yeomans' testimony as it relates back to Yeomans' pretestimonial acts and statements. Mastroianni, 173 F.3d at 1367. In other words, because the only evidence to show a conspiracy in the pre-indictment phase was Yeomans's later false grand jury testimony, and because Yeomans was immune for that testimony, we concluded that Yeomans was absolutely immune for conspiracy to present or give grand jury testimony. Id. (Because we may not consider such testimony as a factor upon which to base Yeomans' potential liability, we conclude that Yeomans is entitled to absolute immunity for his actions in this case). This Court subsequently applied Mastroianni in Jones and Rowe, in each case concluding that absolute immunity applied equally both to the false testimony itself and to the alleged conspiracies to present false testimony. Jones, 174 F.3d at 1289 (To allow a § 1983 claim based on subornation of perjured testimony where the allegedly perjured testimony itself is cloaked in absolute immunity would be to permit through the back door what is prohibited through the front); Rowe, 279 F.3d at 1282 (It would be cold comfort for a prosecutor to know that he is absolutely immune from direct liability for actions taken as prosecutor, if those same actions could be used to prove him liable on a conspiracy theory involving conduct for which he was not immune). Since Paulk receives absolute immunity for his false testimony before the grand jury, Hodges and Paulk are similarly immune for their alleged conspiracy to fabricate and present false testimony to the grand jury. Rowe, 279 F.3d at 1282 ([A] witness's absolute immunity from liability for testifying forecloses any use of that testimony as evidence of the witness's membership in a conspiracy prior to his taking the stand). It is important to point out that Hodges and Paulk generally would not receive absolute immunity for fabricating evidence, because investigating and gathering evidence falls outside the prosecutor's role as an advocate. See Buckley, 509 U.S. at 262-64, 113 S.Ct. at 2610-11 (no immunity for prosecutor who fabricated expert testimony linking defendant's boot with bootprint at murder scene); Rowe, 279 F.3d at 1281 (no immunity for fabrication of jump rope); Jones, 174 F.3d at 1289-90 (no immunity for fabrication of bootprint); Riley v. City of Montgomery, Ala., 104 F.3d 1247, 1253 (11th Cir.1997) (no immunity for police officer's planting of cocaine). All of these cases involved a particular discrete item of physical or expert evidence that was falsely created during the investigative stage to link the accused to a crime. In contrast, there is no allegation of any physical or expert evidence that Hodges or Paulk fabricated or planted. There is no allegation of a pre-indictment document such as a false affidavit or false certification. Rather, Hodges and Paulk are accused of fabricating together only the testimony Paulk later gave to the grand jury. No evidence existed until Paulk actually testified to the grand jury. Stated differently, the only evidence Rehberg alleges was fabricated is Paulk's false grand jury testimony, for which Paulk receives absolute immunity. [10] For all these reasons, we conclude Hodges and Paulk are entitled to absolute immunity for the pre-indictment conduct of conspiring to make up and present Paulk's false testimony to the grand jury.