Sixth Circuit Upholds Partial Denial of Qualified Immunity for MI Jail Guards’ Failure to Protect Sex Offender; Case Settles for $190,000
Sixth Circuit Upholds Partial Denial of Qualified Immunity for MI Jail Guards’ Failure to Protect Sex Offender; Case Settles for $190,000
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed in part and reversed in part a Michigan district court’s denial of qualified immunity to two guards in a case involving failure to protect and excessive force.
On February 11, 2000, Shawn Leary, 21, was arrested for raping a nine-year-old girl and taken to the Livingston County Jail. During intake, Denis McGuckin, a guard at the facility, hit Leary on the back of the neck after calling him a “sick prick.” Later that evening another jail guard, Scott Stone, told Leary that once other prisoners “found out what he did … there would be no protection from anyone here at the jail.”
Stone then proceeded to tell other prisoners that Leary “was in for raping a nine-year-old girl.” Leary was severely beaten, choked and kicked by a group of prisoners several days later; he suffered facial and skull fractures.
Leary sued Livingston County, Stone, McGuckin and other defendants, alleging excessive force and deliberate indifference to his safety. After the district court denied Stone and McGuckin’s requests for qualified immunity, they filed an interlocutory appeal.
On appeal, Stone argued that he was entitled to qualified immunity because Leary had failed to demonstrate that he subjectively ignored a serious risk of harm to Leary’s safety. The Sixth Circuit disagreed in a June 10, 2008 opinion.
Stone, the appellate court wrote, “was aware of facts from which the inference could be drawn that a substantial risk of serious harm existed and that he drew the inference.” Stone had told Leary that “once other [prisoners] found out what he did,” he would need “protection … at the jail.” Nevertheless, in spite of that knowledge, Stone “persisted in telling other [prisoners] about Leary’s charges.”
Such actions, if true, constitute deliberate indifference to a prisoner’s safety, the Court of Appeals held. Accordingly, the district court’s denial of qualified immunity as to Stone was affirmed.
However, the Sixth Circuit reached a different conclusion in regard to McGuckin. Unlike Stone, McGuckin was entitled to qualified immunity because the force used when he struck Leary was de minimis. The appellate court found that Leary had confirmed the de minimis nature of the force when he testified during his deposition that McGuckin’s actions “didn’t hurt or nothing.” Consequently, McGuckin’s conduct, “while rude and unprofessional, did not rise to the level of a cognizable constitutional claim.” See: Leary v. Livingston County, 528 F.3d 438 (6th Cir. 2008).
On remand, the case settled for $190,000 on July 31, 2008, inclusive of attorney fees, with the settlement paid to Leary’s family. See: Leary v. Livingston County, U.S.D.C. (E.D. Mich.), Case No. 5:03-cv-60021.
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Related legal cases
Leary v. Livingston County
| Year | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 528 F.3d 438 (6th Cir. 2008) |
| Level | Court of Appeals |
| Conclusion | Settlement |
| Damages | 190,000.00 |
| Injunction Status | N/A |
Leary v. Livingston County
| Year | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Cite | U.S.D.C. (E.D. Mich.), Case No. 5:03-cv-60021 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |
| Damages | 190,000.00 |
| Injunction Status | N/A |