Opinion ID: 19
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Martínez-Rodríguez's Indictment and Filing of His Civil Rights Suit

Text: In the course of a grand jury investigation special agent Quiñones testified as to the details of the drug trafficking operation and stated that Martínez-Rodríguez acted as López-López's bodyguard during the May 14th meeting. Martínez-Rodríguez was subsequently indicted and arrested on drug trafficking charges. On August 2, 2002, Martínez-Rodríguez was acquitted following a jury trial. He subsequently filed a civil rights action under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971), against several DEA officials and agents. Martínez-Rodríguez named two group of defendants in his complaint. In the first group of defendants he included DEA officials Rogelio E. Guevara, Chief of Operations of the DEA; Jerome Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Caribbean Field Division of the DEA; and Enrique Nieves, Group Supervisor and Acting Investigator of the DEA. The second group of defendants included the DEA agents who participated in the drug trafficking investigation, namely, DEA special agents Aramis Quiñones, Nelson González, Francisco J. Álvarez, and John F. Kanig (collectively, Defendants). In his complaint, Martínez-Rodríguez claimed that DEA special agent Quiñones knowingly gave false or misleading testimony before the grand jury in order to establish probable cause for his indictment and arrest. According to Martínez-Rodríguez, the other DEA officials and agents listed as defendants had constructive knowledge of Quiñones's false testimony to the grand jury, and they failed to reveal that Martínez-Rodríguez did not participate in the drug-related conversation at the Oyster Bar, resulting in his illegal arrest, without probable cause, in violation of his Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Following a few procedural incidents concerning service of process and personal jurisdiction, Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss arguing, inter alia, that the complaint failed to state a claim under Bivens for which relief could be granted and that in the alternative they were entitled to qualified immunity. Adopting a Report and Recommendation issued by a magistrate judge, the district court dismissed Martínez-Rodríguez's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment claims. Defendants subsequently filed a Motion for Summary Judgment requesting dismissal of Martínez-Rodríguez's Fourth Amendment claim on qualified immunity grounds. The district court granted Defendant's motion and dismissed the case, holding that Defendants' actions were objectively reasonable under clearly established law. Martínez-Rodríguez timely appeals the district court's dismissal of his Fourth Amendment claim.