CA6: Malicious prosecution claim fails where no false testimony before GJ

Plaintiff’s grand jury indictment was sufficient probable cause to defeat a malicious prosecution claim. Plaintiff cannot show that the officer testified falsely or with reckless disregard for the truth before the grand jury. Robertson v. Lucas, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9771, 2014 FED App. 0109P (6th Cir. May 28, 2014)*:

The crux of appellants’ argument is that Lucas’s testimony to the grand jury contained knowing falsehoods because he did not tell the grand jury that information obtained from the confidential informant, Bray, was suspect based on Bray’s criminal history, theft of drugs and money belonging to law enforcement, and fabrication of evidence through the use of stand-ins or staged drug buys to frame individuals other than the appellants here. Appellants have presented no evidence that Lucas falsely testified to the officers’ efforts to corroborate Bray’s information about them. That is, appellants cannot overcome the presumption of probable cause, see Mott, 524 Fed. Appx. 179, 2013 WL 1663219, at *7, and therefore cannot show that their own constitutional rights were violated.