June 29th, 2017

Brewer v. Hayne

Dockets: 16-60116 , 16-60342
Opinion Date: June 27, 2017
Judge: Higginbotham
Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Plaintiffs Brewer and Brooks filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that defendants, forensic consultants, violated their constitutional rights under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when, as retained government experts, they provided investigators with—and later testified to—baseless findings, and that they knew that the evidence was baseless or at least acted with reckless disregard of that reality. The Fifth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for defendants and held that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity because they were engaged in the criminal investigative functions of the state protected at common law, and plaintiffs failed to raise a genuine issue of fact as to whether defendants violated their right to due process by intentionally creating false or misleading scientific evidence.