Opinion ID: 496809
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Officer Maurice Fuqua

Text: 12 Officer Fuqua is protected by qualified immunity for his official acts, so long as he does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Qualified immunity is an affirmative defense that must be established by the official. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 815, 102 S.Ct. at 2736. However, the Supreme Court has characterized the question of whether the law was clearly established at the time of an official's conduct as an appropriate question for summary judgment. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2738. 13 Rykers argues that Officer Fuqua violated the Constitution by submitting an affidavit to obtain an arrest warrant for kidnapping when Officer Fuqua knew that Rykers, as Aimee's father, could not kidnap her absent a custody decree. The Louisiana kidnapping statute defines parental kidnapping as: 14 (4) The intentional taking, enticing or decoying away and removing from the state, by any parent of his or her child, from the custody of any person to whom custody has been awarded by any court of competent jurisdiction of any state, without the consent of the legal custodian, with intent to defeat the jurisdiction of the said court over the custody of the child. 15 La.Rev.Stat.Ann. 14:45(A)(4). The Louisiana courts have interpreted this statute as barring prosecution of a father who took his child before a custody decree was handed down. State v. Elliott, 131 So. 28. Other states have similar doctrines. See generally Annotation, Kidnapping or related offense by taking or removing of child by or under authority of parent or one in loco parentis, 20 ALR 4th 823 (1983). Fuqua, as an officer charged with enforcing Louisiana law, can be presumed to know that law. Moreover, because Officer Fuqua's affidavit forms the first link of the paper chain leading to Rykers' arrest, Fuqua, unlike the other government defendants, cannot appeal to the facial validity of a previous document. Nor can Officer Fuqua appeal to the doctrine that an affiant who lays all the facts out before a neutral magistrate is insulated from liability by the magistrate's independent decision to issue a warrant. Gonzales, 670 F.2d at 526. In the instant case, the key fact that Alford had obtained no custody decree was not included in Officer Fuqua's affidavit. 16 However, there are several difficulties in the law and facts as they appeared to Officer Fuqua on the day he signed the affidavit. These difficulties lead us to agree with the district court that Rykers' rights were not clearly established on that date. First, the Louisiana Supreme Court case on which Rykers relies, Elliott, provides that a parent can kidnap his own child if a custody decree exists or if a petition for separation or divorce is pending. Elliott, 131 So. at 30 (remanding to determine whether a petition was pending). If the Louisiana courts themselves read the kidnapping statute nonliterally in the sense that a custody decree is not absolutely required, then Officer Fuqua can be forgiven for doing the same. Alford's motion for summary judgment, never contradicted on this point by Rykers, stated that she had legal custody over Aimee under the laws of Australia. Record at 65. If Alford made a similar statement to Officer Fuqua, Fuqua could reasonably believe that Alford's rights to Aimee sufficed to trigger the statute. 17 Second, the kidnapping statute defines five other types of simple kidnapping. At least one of these types applies, by its literal terms, to Rykers' conduct under the facts known to Officer Fuqua: 18 (1) The intentional and forcible seizing and carrying of any person from one place to another without his consent ... 19 La.Rev.Stat.Ann. 14:45(A)(1). Rykers does not cite, and the Court's research does not reveal, any Louisiana case holding clearly that a parent innocent of parental kidnapping under subsection (4) cannot be charged with kidnapping under subsection (1). Again, the law is not clearly established. Harlow, 457 U.S. at 818, 102 S.Ct. at 2738. 20 Finally, the facts of the case were not clear on the day of the affidavit. The only evidence presented to the district court on what Alford told Officer Fuqua is the content of Fuqua's affidavit itself. 1 The affidavit refers to Aimee as the illegitimate daughter of Rykers. Record at 103. The affidavit also describes Alford as the legimate [sic ] mother, and states that Aimee's name was changed in court from Tasha Ryker to Aimee Anderson. Id. Officer Fuqua states that the affidavit reflects the information given by Alford to Fuqua at the time, and Rykers has presented no evidence to the contrary. If so, then Officer Fuqua's characterization of Alford as legitimate and of Rykers as illegitimate, coupled with the references to a court proceeding, indicate that Fuqua may have assumed that Alford had sufficient custody rights to Aimee to satisfy the statute. Given the emergency situation that Rykers himself created by taking Aimee on board a yacht capable of leaving the country at any time, Officer Fuqua had no further time to investigate. The existence of extraordinary circumstances, such as an emergency precluding factual investigation, can be taken into account in deciding a claim of qualified immunity under Harlow. Trejo v. Perez, 693 F.2d 482, 485 (5th Cir.1982). 21 In sum, because of ambiguities in Louisiana kidnapping law and gaps in the available facts, we conclude that the district court did not err in its determination of qualified immunity for Officer Fuqua.