Court Opinion

ID: 9487083
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:07:55.541512+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:05.507700
License: Public Domain

RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The Court holds that the District Court erred in determining as a matter of law that the arrest of Abbott by Officer Stone in violation of state law necessarily also constituted a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Although I concur in the Court’s other holdings, I dissent on this point. I agree with the Court’s statement that a violation of state law does not automatically create a cause of action under Section 1983, but I believe that the violation of some state laws can amount to an infringement of the Fourth Amendment. Further, I believe that this issue is one of law for the court to decide.
The Court holds that the District Court erred when it granted judgement as a matter of law for the plaintiffs in this case. In making its determination, the Court reviews several Fourth Amendment cases. These cases state generally that violations of state law do not establish a Fourth Amendment violation, but may be relevant in determining whether the conduct in question was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Ante, at 998. Without considering the nature of the violation in this case, or the purpose of the state law at issue, the Court instead draws the conclusion that this violation of state law, Stone’s arrest of Abbott without authority, did not as a matter of law violate Abbott’s *1000Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. Then the Court states that “the jury should have been allowed to determine whether the arrest was objectively reasonable under all the circumstances, including the fact that the officer lacked authority under state law to make the arrest.” Ante, at 998. I respectfully disagree.
The key issue in determining whether a violation of state law constitutes a violation of the Fourth Amendment, in the context of an arrest, is whether the statute in question is designed to protect individuals from police behavior that would otherwise be unreasonable. In United States v. Baker, 16 F.3d 854, 856 n. 1 (8th Cir.1994), a recent ease quoted by the Court, we said that “[a] violation of state law does not establish a Fourth Amendment violation. However, the question of compliance with state law may well be relevant in determining whether police conduct was reasonable for Fourth Amendment purposes.” Thus, even though a violation of state law in the course of an arrest is not a per se constitutional violation, it can be “unreasonable” under the Fourth Amendment, depending on the nature of the violation. See also Cole v. Bone, 993 F.2d 1328, 1334 (8th Cir.1993).
This analysis is consistent with the law of this Circuit. For example, in Bissonette v. Haig, 800 F.2d 812, 816 (8th Cir.1986) (en banc), aff'd by operation of law, 485 U.S. 264, 108 S.Ct. 1253, 99 L.Ed.2d 288 (1988), this Court held that the use of military personnel to enforce domestic law, which use was contrary to a federal statute, violated the Fourth Amendment. In so holding, we looked to the federal statute in question and determined that the policy of the statute involved was so important that the seizure violated the Fourth Amendment. I think that the same result is dictated by the facts of this case.
Here, both parties agree that the officer lacked the statutory jurisdiction to arrest. Applying the premise stated above, we must look to the nature of the statute Officer Stone violated. Thus, before holding the arrest to be unreasonable, we must consider the policies and interests underlying the statutory prohibition of such arrests. See Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1694, 85 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985). Perhaps the most important reason why a state might limit the jurisdiction of city and town officers to their respective communities is that smaller communities are unlikely to have the resources to provide their officers with proper training in the elements of probable cause or arrest procedures. By limiting an officer’s jurisdiction to the community in which she serves, a state helps to ensure not only that the power of the police over individuals will be. appropriately restricted, but also that an officer will be sufficiently trained for the types of arrests likely to occur in her community. This type of restriction helps to protect the very interests underlying the Fourth Amendment, those of the individual in privacy and personal freedom, and, at the same time, balances the interests of government in protecting society and making arrests in a safe, efficient, and constitutional manner. For these reasons, I would hold that the violation of state law in this case made the arrest unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. See Brock v. Logan County Sheriffs Department, 3 F.3d 1215, 1216 (8th Cir.1993); Cole v. Nebraska State Board of Parole, 997 F.2d 442, 444 (8th Cir.1993).
I also disagree with the Court’s decision to allow the jury to determine, under all the circumstances, whether Stone’s illegal arrest of Abbott was objectively reasonable. The District Court apparently is to tell the jury that Stone violated Missouri law, and then let it determine whether this behavior crosses the bounds of constitutionality. We are not told what other factors the jury is to consider, or what definition (if any) of reasonableness it is to be given. I believe that whether the state-law violation is also a violation of the Fourth Amendment is a question of law to be determined by the court. Compare Thompson v. Reuting, 968 F.2d 756 (8th Cir.1992) (holding that when the parties do not dispute any material facts, the issue of whether a police officer had a reasonable articulable suspicion for stopping an individual is a question of law); Hoffmann v. Mayor, Councilmen & Citizens of Liberty, 905 F.2d 229 (8th Cir.1990) (noting that whether an employee’s speech was entitled to First *1001Amendment protection was a question of law for the court).
Although I disagree with the District Court’s holding that the violation of a state statute is always a constitutional violation, I agree with its result on this issue. Because Stone’s arrest of Abbott was illegal under Missouri law, and because, in my view, the violation of this particular state statute violated Abbott’s constitutional rights, I would affirm the District Court’s grant of judgment as a matter of law to Abbott on this issue.