Court: No Immunity For Federal Agent Who Made Elderly Woman Stand In Urine-Soaked Pants For Two Hours While He Questioned Her
from the tough-on-(moon-related)-crime dept
The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court has affirmed a lower court's stripping of a federal officer's qualified immunity in a… moon rock sting case. This is a thing. Relatives and friends of NASA personnel have received what they believe are gifts from them -- items containing moon rock pieces, or heat shield fragments, or whatever. The problem here is the government believes it owns anything related to its exploration missions.
It's not always illegal to be in possession of these items, but as Lowering the Bar's Kevin Underhill explains, it's almost always going to be treated as illegal by the federal government.
[I]f you have or even claim to have any lunar material, or some other piece of Apollo memorabilia, the government is quite likely to treat you as a criminal if it finds out—even if, as in this case, it had no proof at all that the suspect got it illegally (or even that it was what she claimed).
The "she" here is Joann Davis, whose late husband worked on the Apollo program. He was given two Apollo souvenirs by Neil Armstrong -- paperweights containing pieces of a moon rock and a heat shield, respectively. Davis was looking to sell the items to a collector to defray her son's medical expenses. She asked NASA for assistance, which turned out to be a mistake. NASA sent the feds after her.
Davis may have told the government what she was up to, but the government didn't return the favor. Instead, it decided to engage in sting operation, because that's obviously the best way to deal with a 74-year-old woman trying to pay medical expenses -- and who had made the government fully aware of her NASA-related items and her planned sale of them.
"Jeff," the government's undercover man posing as an interested buyer, met with Davis at a Denny's. Outside were six armed federal agents. The only person with Davis was her 70-year-old friend, Paul Cilley. From the opinion [PDF]:
Once Davis, Cilley, and “Jeff” were seated in a booth inside the restaurant and exchanged pleasantries, Davis placed the paperweights on the table. “Jeff” said he thought the heat shield was worth about $2,000. Shortly thereafter, Conley announced himself as a “special agent,” and another officer’s hand reached over Davis, grabbed her hand, and took the moon rock paperweight. Simultaneously, a different officer grabbed Cilley by the back of the neck and restrained him by holding his arm behind his back in a bent-over position. Then, an officer grabbed Davis by the arm, pulling her from the booth. At this time, Davis claims that she felt like she was beginning to lose control of her bladder. One of the officers took her purse. Both Cilley and Davis were compliant. Four officers escorted them to the restaurant parking lot for questioning after patting them down to ensure that neither was armed.
If this itself seems excessive, well… hold the government's beer.
Davis claims that she told officers twice during the escort that she needed to use the restroom, but that they did not answer and continued walking her toward an SUV where Conley was waiting. Davis subsequently urinated in her clothing. Although their accounts differ in some respects, Conley and Davis agree that he knew she was wearing urine-soaked pants as he interrogated her in the restaurant parking lot. Davis claims that she was not allowed an opportunity to clean herself or change her clothing, despite communicating to Conley several times that she was “very uncomfortable.”
Conley is Norman Conley, the federal agent whose immunity remains stripped. For whatever reason, Conley appeared to believe it wasn't enough to have both the disputed property in hand and a fully-compliant suspect who had already informed NASA about her plans to sell them.
Conley then proceeded to question Davis for one-and-a-half to two hours, during which time Davis remained standing in the same place.
In urine-soaked pants, lest we forget.
Conley apparently felt he just wasn't threatening enough. He brought more muscle for the urine-soaked, Denny's parking lot interrogation of a 74-year-old woman.
[W]hile Conley questioned her, another officer wearing a flack jacket stood behind her and pushed her each time she shifted her weight or stepped backwards. During the questioning, Conley kept Davis’s purse and car keys and told her repeatedly that “they still really want to take you in,” and that she needed to give him more information before he could release her. She was kept from going to her car. At least ninety minutes had passed when Conley told Davis she was free to leave.
Here's the depressing coda:
After the sting operation was complete and NASA lunar experts were able to confirm the moon rock’s authenticity, Conley opened a full investigation. The investigation was closed when the U.S. Attorney in Orlando, Florida, formally declined to prosecute Davis. Davis’s son died seven months after the incident.
As the appeals court points out, Conley's own admissions cancel out his qualified immunity defense.
At the time of the detention, Conley was aware of several facts that color the reasonableness of his actions. First, Conley knew that Davis was a slight, elderly woman, who was then nearly seventy-five years old and less than five feet tall. Second, he knew that Davis lost control of her bladder during the search and was wearing visibly wet pants. Third, he knew that Davis and Cilley were unarmed and that the search warrant had been fully executed by the time Davis was escorted to the parking lot. Fourth, Conley knew that Davis had not concealed possession of the paperweights, but rather had reached out to NASA for help in selling the paperweights. Finally, because all but the first of the phone calls between Davis and “Jeff” were recorded, Conley knew the exact content of most of those conversations, including that Davis was experiencing financial distress as a result of having to raise grandchildren after her daughter died, her son was severely ill and required expensive medical care, and Davis needed a transplant. Those conversations also revealed Davis’s desire to sell the paperweights in a legal manner and her belief that she possessed them legally because they were a gift to her late husband.
If Conley didn't want to be held accountable for civil liberties violations, the court says he probably shouldn't have violated them so thoroughly.
Because the moon rock paperweight had been seized and both Davis and Cilley had already been searched for other weapons and contraband, Conley had no law enforcement interest in detaining Davis for two hours while she stood wearing urine-soaked pants in a restaurant’s parking lot during the lunch rush. This is precisely the type of “unusual case” involving “special circumstances” that leads us to conclude that a detention is unreasonable. Conley’s detention of Davis, an elderly woman, was unreasonably prolonged and unnecessarily degrading.
There are multiple ways this could have been handled and Conley chose the path most likely to result in a civil rights lawsuit. Maybe he thought Davis would never go so far as to sue him. Maybe this is just how Agent Conley handles everything: with as much force and intimidation as possible, even if nothing about the situation warrants it. Whatever the case, Conley will now have to face Davis' allegations in court, with no shield in front of him. Hopefully, he'll find the experience to be nearly as uncomfortable as what he put Joann Davis through.
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Filed Under: 9th circuit, arrest, immunity, joann davis, lunar material, moon rocks, nasa
Reader Comments
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Not fit to live in the shadow of people like Armstrong
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Re: Not fit to live in the shadow of people like Armstrong
Rather the special level of hell
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Thank goodness we have government agents like him keeping us safe for the scourge of the elderly
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See her moon.
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Re: Thank goodness we have government agents like him keeping us safe for the scourge of the elderly
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The officer needs to be fired with a "dishonorable discharge" so he can't work in any law enforcement jobs and stripped of any pension he might have. Then he might learn not to abuse his power.
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burn him to the ground
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Frankly:
This rather sounds like an attack dog in the need of a handler. Or the only playbook the department works with is the good cop/bad cop routine and they were short an actor. And it does not appear like the department had anybody on cue for that role so telling one bad apple in the barrel "watch it, now" is unlikely to make an overwhelming difference.
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Re: Frankly:
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And even so they get little more than a slap on the wrist compared to a civilian offender.
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What about the good apples?
So Conley gets his immunity stripped.
What about all the other "good apples" that stood around and did nothing? No punishment for them?
Please, cop apologists - tell me more about how it's just a few bad apples.
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You are being unfair here.
It isn't fair to accuse them of standing around and doing nothing:
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Re: You are being unfair here.
Plus - needed to sell a priceless heirloom to pay medical bills? How quaint. Speaking as a Canadian, I've heard that happens in countries other than the civilized ones, where health care is free.
And... don't leave us in suspense -did she get her possessions back? They were after all a gift from a legend, who presumably had the right to gift them?
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Re: Re: You are being unfair here.
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Maybe we should ask those who paid for them to decide whether an astronaut who risked his life for that and other missions had the right to gift them. What do you suppose their answer would be?
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Re: What about the good apples?
If you rob a liquor store at gunpoint, get away, then the next day you go over to a friend's house to watch a football game and he provides snacks, that friend is now your accomplice to the robbery. Because he gave material aid and comfort (snacks) to a wanted felon, he's now equally guilty under the law and equally subject to the 5-10 year prison sentence you are facing.
The fact that your friend didn't know you robbed a liquor store is irrelevant. The fact your friend didn't know he was giving material comfort to a criminal? Irrelevant. He was never within ten miles of the crime scene at any time during his entire life? Irrelevant. He's an accomplice after the fact and that's that.
Police officers routinely stand around and watch, providing silent support, as their fellow officers commit crimes. They provide armed on-call backup without asking a single question about whether the use of force is justified. If one cop shoots, they all shoot. Cops brag in the locker room just as much as anyone does in any other job, and cops overhear all kinds stories of illegal actions -- and remain silent.
If a few handfuls of Cheetos and a glass of beer is enough to turn an innocent person into a wanted felon, then any of those things in the previous paragraph absolutely would do the same -- after all, police are not exempted from those laws.
The general public has the bizarre notion that as long as a cop is not the primary actor in a crime, they remain a good cop -- but neither the spirit nor the letter of the law supports that view.
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Treat people with dignity
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Re: Treat people with dignity
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They often use elderly go betweens to setup robberies at Dennys.
They sometimes say they have to pee so they can produce a secreted scud missile from their nether regions to wipe out the strike team.
And LEO's can't seem to understand how stupid actions like this don't do much for public relations.
You call them for help - they shoot the dog.
They get the wrong house - they flash bang a baby.
A CI trying to avoid jail fingers you - they tear your entire home down, find nothing, walk away.
Perhaps its time to not let them stay up late watching cop shows where every other person is a criminal mastermind out to murder them.
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A few things needs to change...
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Re: A few things needs to change...
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Re: A few things needs to change...
It is sad to see such ignorant people disrespect anyone, but to show such disrespect to someone who clearly deserves respect is quite troubling because at the same time they are demanding what they think is respect from everyone else.
These types of people do not understand what the word means. How could anyone respect these bad cops/agents/whatever they call themselves.
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Re: Re: A few things needs to change...
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The really sad part is;
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the Best part...
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Re: the Best part...
Eww. After using their copy of the constitution as a door mat and then makeshift toilet paper, I really hope they don't keep it on their desk.
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Not a good reason
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Standard fare is not "nothing" but a promotion and a paid vacation. The promotion in order to have a "decorated officer" to show for the civil case. And a suspension while staying on payroll.
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His training???
Then it comes to you: at United Airlines.
(The proceeding message was brought to you by United...the "FUCK YOU" airline.)
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Re: His training???
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Re: Re: His training???
you are free to leave, but if you do - we will have to clean the blood from the plane.
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Re: Re: Re: His training???
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Tell me its not true...
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Re: Tell me its not true...
I doubt it was an engineer or scientist at NASA that initiated this fiasco, more likely it was a middle management MBA who is desperately attempting to further their career - like those who disregarded the tech advice and launched Challenger anyway.
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Re: Re: Tell me its not true...
Nothing to do with "desperately attempting to further their career".
There are rules. You don't get fired for following the rules. You might get fired for deciding not to follow the rules. Even if the rules are insane: if someone wants your job, breaking even the most asinine of rules will provide leverage.
Not as much the Nuremberg defense as the Milgram defense, and don't underestimate it.
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Re: Tell me its not true...
This whole thing looks like they were busting some drug dealers.
Oh no no no. Actual drug dealers just get their money taken and sent on their way.
Collecting evidence, performing investigations, going to court... all that takes work, much easier to just take the guilty cash now and throw it in the department's coffers.
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And the lesson is...
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Bad Apples
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