{"id":5670,"date":"2011-09-02T07:38:38","date_gmt":"2011-06-19T10:13:42","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-19T10:13:42","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=5670","title":{"rendered":"CA3: District Court erred in setting aside a Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment arrest and search jury verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"

The district court erred in setting aside a jury verdict for the plaintiff for a Fourth Amendment unreasonable search and arrest claim and a Fourteenth Amendment equal protection claim. The district court\u2019s analysis of the Fourth Amendment in the JNOV was different than the jury instructions. The evidence supported the verdict. Pitts v. Delaware<\/a>, 646 F.3d 151 (3d Cir. 2011)*:<\/p>\n

Moreover, it was error for the Court to rely on Fourth Amendment principles regarding investigatory detentions because the jury was not instructed on that jurisprudence. Even if Spence had an articulable suspicion that Pitts had committed a crime, the jury was informed only of the law regarding probable cause. The jury could have concluded on the evidence that probable cause was lacking; and thus, based on the instructions given, the evidence was sufficient to support Pitts’ claim that Pitts’ detention was unlawful.<\/p>\n

With regard to the towing and inventory search of Pitts’ car, Spence conceded at trial that he lacked probable cause to conduct a search of Pitts’ car. Spence testified that he considered the towing necessary to prevent the possibility of another altercation or further damage to Pitts’ car, and conceded that he did not search the car for safety reasons or to look for a gun. The jury, however, could have found that Spence was not credible and could have concluded that Spence unlawfully searched the car in order to search for the gun that Mitchem had accused Pitts of threatening to use. The Court necessarily weighed the evidence and did not view it in the light most favorable to Pitts when it concluded that there was no evidence to support a suggestion of pretext and that Spence’s asserted fear rendered the towing and inventory search reasonable as a matter of law. It was also error for the Court to consider inventory-search jurisprudence in its analysis because the jury was not given an instruction thereon. Based on the instructions given, the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict, and the District Court erred in concluding otherwise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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