Court Opinion

ID: 9480247
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:42:07.404195+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:33.727248
License: Public Domain

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I would reverse the judgment of the district court with respect to the claims against Jasper County and Sheriff Gilli-land.1
Indiana county prosecutors and sheriffs — and their county2 — are not excused from the constitutional and statutory obligation to bring an incarcerated person promptly before a judicial officer simply because that person has been delivered to the county jail by a state police officer. Nor can these parties escape civil liability for such abusive conduct by warehousing the prisoner outside the confines of the county in violation of state law. The fact that the receiving county and its sheriff might also incur liability is irrelevant in determining the liability of those who initiated and have continuing responsibility for the illegality. Accordingly I respectfully dissent.

. In this court, Sheriff Gilliland was represented by the same counsel as Jasper County and, as my brothers note, little attention was given to the individual liability of the sheriff. However, when read as a whole, the brief certainly sets forth sufficient argumentation to permit us to adjudicate the Appellant's contention against the sheriff. In my view, the sheriff's role in the illegal transfer of the plaintiff to LaPorte County was also preserved adequately in the district court.

. The joint decision of the prosecutor and sheriff to hold the plaintiff for a lengthy period can constitute a policy of the county. See Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 484-85, 106 S.Ct. 1292, 1300-01, 89 L.Ed.2d 452 (1986); see also Anderson v. Gutschenritter, 836 F.2d 346, 349 (7th Cir.1988).