{"id":31463,"date":"2018-01-22T17:13:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T22:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=31463"},"modified":"2018-01-22T17:13:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T22:13:31","slug":"scotus-qi-immunity-granted-where-there-was-arguable-pc-on-the-totality-for-arrests-and-no-case-in-point-saying-there-wasnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=31463","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS: QI immunity granted where there was arguable PC on the totality for arrests and no case in point saying there wasn’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the totality of circumstances, it was reasonable to infer probable cause to arrest plaintiffs for unlawful entry for being in an otherwise vacant building for a party. The actions of the partygoers suggested they knew they had no right to be there. Moreover, there was no controlling authority saying that the arrest was unreasonable or without probable cause. District of Columbia v. Wesby<\/a>, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 760 (Jan 22, 2018). Syllabus:
\n<\/p>\n

District of Columbia police officers responded to a complaint about loud music and illegal activities in a vacant house. Inside, they found the house nearly barren and in disarray. The officers smelled marijuana and observed beer bottles and cups of liquor on the floor, which was dirty. They found a make-shift strip club in the living room, and a naked woman and several men in an upstairs bedroom. Many partygoers scattered when they saw the uniformed officers, and some hid. The officers questioned everyone and got inconsistent stories. Two women identified \u201cPeaches\u201d as the house\u2019s tenant and said that she had given the partygoers permission to have the party. But Peaches was not there. When the officers spoke by phone to Peaches, she was nervous, agitated, and evasive. At first, she claimed that she was renting the house and had given the partygoers permission to have the party, but she eventually admitted that she did not have permission to use the house. The owner confirmed that he had not given anyone permission to be there. The officers then arrested the partygoers for unlawful entry.<\/p>\n

Several partygoers sued for false arrest under the Fourth Amendment and District law. The District Court concluded that the officers lacked probable cause to arrest the partygoers for unlawful entry and that two of the officers, petitioners here, were not entitled to qualified immunity. A divided panel of the D. C. Circuit affirmed. [Wesby v. District of Columbia, 765 F. 3d 13 (D.C. Cir. 2014)]<\/p>\n

Held:<\/p>\n

1. The officers had probable cause to arrest the partygoers. Pp. 7-13.<\/p>\n

(a) Considering the \u201ctotality of the circumstances,\u201d Maryland v. Pringle, 540 U.S. 366, 371, the officers made an \u201centirely reasonable inference\u201d that the partygoers knew they did not have permission to be in the house, id., at 372. Taken together, the condition of the house and the conduct of the partygoers allowed the officers to make several \u201c\u2018common-sense conclusions about human behavior.\u2019\u201d Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 231. Because most homeowners do not live in such conditions or permit such activities in their homes, the officers could infer that the partygoers knew the party was not authorized. The officers also could infer that the partygoers knew that they were not supposed to be in the house because they scattered and hid when the officers arrived. See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 124-125. The partygoers\u2019 vague and implausible answers to questioning also gave the officers reason to infer that the partygoers were lying and that their lies suggested a guilty mind. Cf. Devenpeck v. Alford, 543 U.S. 146, 149, 155-156. Peaches\u2019 lying and evasive behavior gave the officers reason to discredit everything she said. The officers also could have inferred that she lied when she said she had invited the partygoers to the house, or that she told the partygoers that she was not actually renting the house. Pp. 7-11.<\/p>\n

(b) The panel majority failed to follow two basic and well-established principles of law. First, it viewed each fact \u201cin isolation, rather than as a factor in the totality of the circumstances.\u201d Pringle, supra, at 372, n. 2. Second, it believed that it could dismiss outright any circumstances that were \u201csusceptible of innocent explanation,\u201d United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 277. Instead, it should have asked whether a reasonable officer could conclude\u2014considering all of the surrounding circumstances, including the plausibility of the explanation itself\u2014that there was a \u201csubstantial chance of criminal activity,\u201d Gates, supra, at 244, n. 13. Pp. 11-13.<\/p>\n

2. The officers are entitled to qualified immunity. Pp. 13-19.<\/p>\n

(a) As relevant here, officers are entitled to qualified immunity under 42 U.S. C. \u00a71983 unless the unlawfulness of their conduct was \u201cclearly established at the time,\u201d Reichle v. Howards, 566 U.S. 658, 664. To be clearly established, a legal principle must be \u201csettled law,\u201d Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 228, and it must clearly prohibit the officer\u2019s conduct in the particular circumstances before him, see Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194, 202. In the warrantless arrest context, \u201ca body of relevant case law\u201d is usually necessary to \u201c\u2018clearly establish\u2019 the answer\u201d with respect to probable cause. Brosseau v. Haugen, 543 U.S. 194, 199. <\/p>\n

Even assuming that the officers lacked actual probable cause to arrest the partygoers, they are entitled to qualified immunity because, given \u201cthe circumstances with which [they] w[ere] confronted,\u201d they \u201creasonably but mistakenly conclude[d] that probable cause [wa]s present.\u201d Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 641. The panel majority and the partygoers have failed to identify a single precedent finding a Fourth Amendment violation \u201cunder similar circumstances.\u201d White v. Pauly, 580 U.S. ___, ___. And this is not an \u201cobvious case\u201d where \u201ca body of relevant case law\u201d is unnecessary. Brosseau, supra, at 199. Pp. 13-16.<\/p>\n

(b) Instead of following this straightforward analysis, the panel majority reasoned that, under clearly established District law, a suspect\u2019s bona fide belief of a right to enter vitiates probable cause to arrest for unlawful entry. Thus, it concluded that the \u201cuncontroverted evidence\u201d of an invitation in this case meant that the officers could not infer the partygoers\u2019 intent from other circumstances or disbelieve their story. But looking at the entire legal landscape at the time of the arrests, a reasonable officer could have interpreted the law as permitting the arrests here. There was no controlling case holding that a bona fide belief of a right to enter defeats probable cause, that officers cannot infer a suspect\u2019s guilty state of mind based on his conduct alone, or that officers must accept a suspect\u2019s innocent explanation at face value. And several precedents suggested the opposite. Pp. 16-19.<\/p>\n

765 F. 3d 13, reversed and remanded.<\/p>\n

Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Breyer, Alito, Kagan, and Gorsuch, JJ., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Ginsburg, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the totality of circumstances, it was reasonable to infer probable cause to arrest plaintiffs for unlawful entry for being in an otherwise vacant building for a party. The actions of the partygoers suggested they knew they had no right … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,20,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-45","category-probable-cause","category-qualified-immunity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31464,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31463\/revisions\/31464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}