Opinion ID: 1316070
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Walters File Suit

Text: On September 25, 2003, after Stacy pleaded guilty to murdering Michael Walter and was sentenced under a plea agreement, the Walters filed a Complaint against Mitchell, DeSarro, Jacobs, Todd, Westfall Township, the Westfall Township Police Department, Pike County, and the Pike County District Attorney's Office, alleging violations of due process under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and wrongful death and survival claims under Pennsylvania state law. The Walters filed an Amended Complaint on October 30, 2003, and the defendants filed motions to dismiss between October and December of 2003. On August 20, 2004, the District Court dismissed the Walters' state-law claims for wrongful death and survival, their claim for punitive damages against Westfall Township and Pike County, and their due process claim against the Westfall Township Police Department. The District Court also held that DeSarro and Jacobs were entitled to absolute immunity for their decisions regarding the re-arrest of Stacy or revocation of his bail, but were not entitled to absolute immunity for their acts pertaining to the investigation of Stacy, and that the Pike County District Attorney's Office was not subject to liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for its prosecutorial acts. On July 15, 2005, the defendants made various motions for summary judgment on the Walters' remaining claims. On August 13, 2006, while those motions were still under submission, Mitchell died. The District Court ruled on the summary judgment motions on November 29, 2006. Walter v. Pike County, 465 F.Supp.2d 409 (M.D.Pa.2006) ( Walter ). Specifically, the District Court (1) granted summary judgment to Westfall Township, Pike County, and the Pike County District Attorney's Office on all outstanding claims, on the basis of municipal immunity, id. at 424-25; (2) granted summary judgment to Mitchell, DeSarro, and Jacobs on the Walters' procedural due process claim, id. at 422-24; (3) denied summary judgment to Mitchell, DeSarro, and Jacobs on the merits of Walters' substantive due process claim, id. at 417-22; (4) denied Mitchell's motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity, id. at 426-38; denied DeSarro's and Jacobs' motion for summary judgment on the basis of absolute immunity, id. at 425-46; and (5) granted in-part and denied in-part DeSarro's and Jacobs' motion for summary judgment on the basis of qualified immunity, holding that DeSarro and Jacobs were entitled to qualified immunity as to their failure to warn the Walter family of the threat posed by Joseph Stacy in the period leading up to the murder of Michael Walter, but were not entitled to qualified immunity as to their involvement in the elicitation of the confession from Joseph Stacy on August 16, 2001. Id. at 429.