Opinion ID: 166791
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Carey’s Complaint.

Text: In her complaint, Carey alleged as follows: 2. Defendant Amy Okubo is a . . . Deputy District Attorney in [Boulder County, Colorado]. Although Amy Okubo has acted in a prosecutorial capacity with respect to the Plaintiff, liability is 1 Because we have determined that defendants are entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity, we do not need to address the issue of qualified immunity. -2- asserted herein for that portion of her participation as a witness under Kalina v. Fletcher, 522 U.S. 118 (1997). . . . 3. Defendant William Wood is . . . employed by Boulder County Community Services as a case manager providing pretrial supervision to persons charged in [Boulder County] with criminal offenses. . . . [T]he claims herein are based upon the conduct of William Wood in all aspects with regard to the preparation of the request for the two arrest warrants for alleged violation of bail bond conditions. .... 5. On June 22, 2004, Plaintiff Patricia Carey was admitted to bail in Boulder County District Court case number 02CR1297 and 02CR1866 with a bond condition that Plaintiff not consume nonprescribed drugs while on bond. Pursuant to the conditions of said bail bonds, Plaintiff was subjected to the supervision of Boulder County Community Justice Services and assigned to William Wood. 6. Boulder County Community Justice Services and William Wood, [were] aware that the amino enzyme screening done to analyze the urine tests it was administering were not sufficiently reliable to be accepted for evidentiary purposes in judicial proceedings, and had been specifically told by James Ruth, Ph.D. that “You can’t send People to prison on these test results without obtaining a confirmatory test by Gas Chromotography-Mass Spectrometry.” 7. On June 30, 2004, Plaintiff provided a urine sample which ultimately tested potentially positive for metabolites of cocaine by screening amino-enzyme inventories, indicating the need to order confirmatory testing. Knowing that a confirmatory test was necessary to obtain any judicially admissible result, on July 13, 2004, William Wood prepared [] “Community Justice Services Noncompliance Report[s]” and submitted [them] to the District Attorney’s office, requesting arrest warrants for a bond revocation. Although William Wood was aware that subsequent urine testing had come back below threshold and that the test used [was] not accepted in the scientific community as reliable to confirm the use of cocaine, -3- the “Community Justice Services Noncompliance Report[s]” failed to remind the District Attorney that the test[] [was] not viewed as sufficiently reliable for use in evidence. 8. On July 13, 2004, Amy Okubo, acting as a witness, verified [identical] motion[s] to revoke the bail bond of Patricia Carey, in Boulder County District Court case number 02CR1297 and 02CR1866, testifying, The defendant is on bond for a class three felony Possession with Intent to Sell and Sale of a Schedule II Controlled Substance. As a condition of the defendant’s bond she is to consume no drugs. On June 30, 2004, eight days after the defendant first appeared in custody at the Boulder County Jail, she tested positive for the presence of cocaine in a urine sample. Cocaine metabolites are not normally present in urine samples seventy-two hours (three days) after last usage. In this case the metabolites were present eight days later. See attached documentation from Community Justice Services. Said verified motion[s] recklessly omitted the fact that . . . the test was not of evidentiary value . . . . The reckless omission of exculpatory facts from the verified motion[s] rendered the verified motion[s] constitutionally false under Stewart v. Donges, 915 F.2d 572, 583 (Tenth Cir. 1990). 2 9. A arrest warrant[s] with no bond [were] issued on the verification[s] of Amy Okubo and Patricia Ann Carey was arrested on July 14, 2004. Patricia Ann Carey was held without bond until July 26, 2004, when the Verified Motion[s] to Revoke Bond [were] heard [and denied] by the district court. 3 Patricia Ann Carey was 2 Carey also alleged that the verified motions recklessly omitted other facts, but she is not pursuing those omission claims in this appeal. 3 At the conclusion of the hearing on July 26, 2004, the Boulder District Court denied the verified motions to revoke bond. The court denied the motions (continued...) -4- forced to incur $6,093.46 in defense charges, including $2,950.00 in expert witness fees and suffered loss of her liberty by spending twelve days in jail. .... 13. William Wood and Amy Akubo sought an arrest warrant for the arrest of Patricia Ann Carey through the sworn testimony of Amy Okubo, which testimony was materially false, and omitted material exculpatory facts. Said conduct violated Patricia Carey’s right, pursuant to the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to be free from unreasonable arrest or seizure . . . . 4 Aplt. App. Vol. 1 at 4-7.