Instructing Jury on Qualified Immunity Was Harmless Error
Gonzales v. Duran, ___ F.3d ___ , 2009 WL 4912301 (10th Cir 2009)
In § 1983 trial against police officers for interrogating minor and in holding minor and her mother in a police car under ruse, it was harmless error for the trial court to submit to the jury, over plaintiffs’ objections, the question of qualified immunity. The COA explains how juries are instructed on qualified immunity only in the most limited of circumstances, and this was not one of them. However, the jury’s answers to interrogatories showed a total defense verdict, making the error harmless.
In § 1983 trial against police officers for interrogating minor and in holding minor and her mother in a police car under ruse, it was harmless error for the trial court to submit to the jury, over plaintiffs’ objections, the question of qualified immunity. The COA explains how juries are instructed on qualified immunity only in the most limited of circumstances, and this was not one of them. However, the jury’s answers to interrogatories showed a total defense verdict, making the error harmless.
posted by Anonymous at 9:29 AM
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