Texas Cops Granted Qualified Immunity for False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution

by David Reutter

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the grant of summary judgment to two police officers sued for false arrest and malicious prosecution by two men who spent nine-months in jail for murder. The Court, however, reversed the denial of a motion to amend claims against the county, but affirmed that denial as to claims against an officer not named in the original complaint.

Shannon Finley, Brandon McClelland, and Ryan Crostley spent the evening of September 15, 2008, drinking beer and smoking marijuana. At some point, McClelland and Finley took Xanax. Because they could not purchase alcohol in Texas after midnight, the three got into Finley’s truck and went to Oklahoma to buy more beer.

Because the transmission in Finley’s truck was malfunctioning, they drove slowly on back county roads on the return trip. At some point, McClelland and Crostley began arguing with Finley about whether he was too drunk to drive. When Finley refused to let either of the others drive, McClelland exited the truck and Finley and Crostley drove away. They returned to retrieve McClelland, but he refused to get into the truck. Other than Crostley vomiting inside of and down the side of the truck, they returned to Finley’s apartment without interacting with McClellan.

Tragically, McClelland was struck and killed by a semi-truck driven by Gary Clark. He felt a bump on his right side trailer tires, but had no indication he had hit anything. Two motorists discovered McClelland’s body in the road.

Finley and Crostley gave separate, corroborating statements to police. During the investigation, police received statements from people who knew Finley and Crostley that indicated they had run over McClelland. Based upon those statements and unverified evidence, Department of Public Safety (DPS_ Sgt. Chris Brooks and Texas Ranger Stacy McNeal prepared affidavits and obtained arrest warrants charging Finley and Crostley with murder.

The Fifth Circuit admitted that much of the evidence in the arrest warrant affidavit to establish probable cause was of “dubious quality.” There was little evidence that Finley and Crostley had ever traveled the road McClelland was killed upon and photographs of the truck’s undercarriage did not support the conclusions drawn. Also, Finley did not flee the state; he informed authorities he feared for his safety and gave them his contact information.

While the witnesses later effectively recanted their statements, police had no reason to disbelieve them at the time. The Court said that viewing all the evidence, Brooks and McNeal were not “objectively unreasonable” in believing probable cause existed so they were entitled to qualified immunity.

The Court, however, held leave to amend to include Lamar County, who had previously been dismissed for failure to plead facts supporting municipal liability, with new information about the county’s investigation procedures. The Fifth Circuit held the district court erred in denying leave, for it had failed to unmistakably state its dismissal order was final. Leave as to FPS officer Timothy Keele was properly denied because he was not included in the original complaint and the statute of limitations had run.

The district court’s order was affirmed in part and reversed in part. See: Crostley v. Lamar County, Texas, 717 F.3d 410 (5th Cir. 2013).

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