CA11: Ptf’s claim officers falsified seizure of crack was speculative; MSJ properly granted

Plaintiff was the subject of a search for drugs, and officers at first found only marijuana. In defendant’s kitchen, in a coffee maker, officers found what they believed was a rock of crack cocaine. It was submitted to the crime lab, and it came back positive. At the trial, the alleged crack looked more like a half an ibuprofen pill. After some discussion of that, the DA agreed to let defendant plead to a misdemeanor for only the marijuana. He filed suit after that claiming that the testimony about it being cocaine was fabricated. His allegation fails as speculative. The DA’s testimony in the civil case was that crack changes in appearance from seizure to court after going through crime lab testing. “Because Evans was not at the house and does not state what day or time she put ibuprofen in the coffee maker, and because there were four other people in Warner’s home who also had no personal knowledge of what was in the coffee maker, Warner’s allegations that Officer Wood and other Police Department officers conspired to fabricate evidence are insufficient to overcome Wood’s motion for summary judgment. Id. at 592-94, 106 S. Ct. at 1359 (explaining that ‘courts should not permit factfinders to infer conspiracies when such inferences are implausible).” Warner v. Wood, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 21142 (11th Cir. July 31, 2018).*