CA9: Excessive search of car 20 years ago was relevant to show officer “would have taken any means necessary to secure” plaintiff’s wrongful conviction

Plaintiffs were actually innocent of murder and served 20 years in prison before securing habeas relief for knowing Brady violations. They sued the police officer responsible for their conviction for clear Brady violations in withholding exculpatory information. As a part of the reckless disregard of due process rights to get over summary judgment, his alleged Fourth Amendment violation in an excessive search is relevant. “And still other evidence suggests that Detective Winn would have taken any means necessary to secure Mellen’s conviction. Mellen’s evidence suggests that Detective Winn knowingly exceeded the scope of a search warrant for Kimball’s car; suppressed the content of her conversation with another detective, Doral Riggs; spoke with a suspect without counsel present; and failed to investigate other credible witness accounts of Daly’s murder. And Detective Winn’s willingness to ignore Mellen’s requests for counsel during her initial interrogation is indicative of the aggressive police tactics which Detective Winn used to investigate this case.” Mellen v. Winn, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 22952 (9th Cir. Aug. 17, 2018).