Opinion ID: 163905
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Officer Porter's Alleged Pattern of Misconduct

Text: 11 Slightly more than a year before the events in question here, Officer Porter was forced to resign from the Midland, Texas, police force after an internal investigation uncovered evidence of serious misconduct. In response to Mr. Marshall's subpoena, Midland Police Chief John Urby provided documents from his department's internal investigation showing an extensive pattern of misconduct and violation of citizens' constitutional rights by Officer Porter when he was on the Midland force. The Hobbs Defendants filed a motion in limine to exclude those documents from admission as evidence in this case. The district court has not yet ruled on that motion. 12 If admissible, the Midland documents provide evidence that in more than thirty cases, Officer Porter falsely charged arrestees with possession of narcotics, seriously mishandled narcotics evidence, or both. Further, in other cases, Officer Porter was accused of planting evidence on arrestees, as well as using evidence to barter for sexual favors. According to the documents, Officer Porter denied the charges until after failing a polygraph test, when he admitted mishandling evidence. 13 The internal investigation concluded that Officer Porter's credibility, integrity, and honesty have been impeached. Mem. from Deputy Chief John Urby to Chief Richard Czech dated Aug. 22, 1995, at 1, App. at 204. Deputy Chief Urby wrote, Officer Porter failed to recognize that . . . he also had the responsibility of insuring that the rights of citizens were not violated. By the end of the investigation, even a good friend and staunch supporter of Officer Porter had concluded that [t]hese acts leave us with no alternative except termination. Any other decision would make us guilty of negligent retention. Mem. from Lt. Jerry Compton to Deputy Chief John Urby dated Aug. 22, 1995, at 2, App. at 203. In a memo from then-Chief Richard Czech to Officer Porter, Porter was told: 14 I cannot express in any terms the seriousness of this violation. Your trust as a police officer [is] to treat people fairly and equally under the law and under the constitution and as far as this police department is concerned you have violated these rights. You violated the very laws that you have been intrusted and sworn to uphold. You have breached the integrity of this Department and your credibility and honesty is to be questioned. As a result of your misconduct I am terminating your employment effective immediately. 15 Mem. from Chief Richard Czech to Officer Rodney Porter dated Aug. 23, 1995, at 2, App. at 201. 16 According to Mr. Marshall, a review of Officer Porter's arrest reports on cases where he had not logged in drug evidence 17 shows that an overwhelming number of the suspects were black. Most of the rest were Hispanic surnamed. Virtually all were stopped for minor traffic violations such as seat belts, failing to signal a turn, failing to stop at a stop sign, or making a wide turn so as to touch the stripe of the other lane. Also, in many [cases] Porter either claimed to have secured consent or went ahead and conducted searches anyway. 18 Pl.'s Mem. in Support of Pl.'s Resp. to Defs.' Mots. for Summ. J., App. at 172. He claims that this pattern closely resembles the facts of his own case, and establishes a modus operandi under which Officer Porter targets individuals on the basis of their race and subjects them to traffic stops, arrests, and searches for pretextual drug violations not based on any evidence. 19 In further support of his equal protection claim, Mr. Marshall presented evidence regarding several lawsuits alleging civil rights violations against African-American citizens of Hobbs pending at the time his complaint was filed. Mr. Marshall also provided newspaper articles dealing with the racial tensions between the Hobbs Police Department and its African-American citizens, including an incident involving Officer Porter in which an allegedly racially motivated arrest at a high school football game resulted in a riot. 3