A Fifth Circuit panel revived much of a former Godley, Texas, councilwoman's civil rights suit alleging city officials used a tampering charge to keep her from a key council vote.
What happened
The Fifth Circuit revived much of former Godley, Texas, City Councilwoman Jennifer Thompson's civil rights suit Friday, holding that she plausibly alleged city officials and police officers used a government-record tampering charge to arrest her minutes before a council meeting where she planned to vote against the mayor's preferred appointees.
The panel reversed dismissal of Thompson's First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims against Officers Jeremy Arbuthnot and Spencer Templer, her First Amendment retaliatory arrest claim against the individual defendants, her Monell claims against the city, and a fabrication theory against all defendants. It affirmed dismissal of her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment claims against former Mayor Acy McGehee and former interim Police Chief Matthew Cantrell.
Judge Priscilla Richman, writing for a panel that also included Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod and Judge Don Willett, said the suit arose from bitter local politics in Godley after Thompson and two other council members became critics of McGehee and city employees. Thompson alleged police told her to stop publicly voicing concerns or face consequences, and that officials later pursued charges after she added items to a proposed council agenda without removing the city secretary's digital certification.
The city and individual defendants argued that the altered agenda supplied probable cause for misdemeanor tampering with a governmental record. But the opinion closely parsed Texas Penal Code Section 37.10(a)(1), which requires a false entry in or false alteration of a governmental record, and allowed Thompson's Franks false-arrest theory to proceed against the officers tied to the warrant materials.
The panel also allowed Thompson's retaliation and municipal-liability theories to move forward. According to the opinion, Thompson alleged specific instances of retaliation by Godley police against other citizens and council members, notice to city policymakers, and a city policy of retaliation that was the moving force behind her arrest.
On Thompson's abuse-of-process theory, the panel said, "There is no constitutional right to be free from abuse of process as such." But it construed the claim as a fabrication claim, citing Fifth Circuit precedent recognizing a due process right not to have officials deliberately fabricate evidence to frame and bring false charges, and remanded for the district court to address that theory in the first instance.
The case now returns to the Northern District of Texas for further proceedings on the revived claims. The opinion leaves unresolved whether Thompson can prove her allegations, including that the timing of her arrest was designed to leave the council deadlocked so McGehee could cast a tiebreaking vote.