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By
a 2-1 vote, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati
rejected claims that the county and a jail deputy should have
known the searches were unreasonable, and violated inmates'
constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment.
Amanda Sumpter sued over three searches conducted by the female
deputy that she found invasive and humiliating, including when
she was allegedly told she smelled like a "funky monkey," and a
fourth in a cellblock allegedly visible to male guards.
The searches were conducted during Sumpter's 34-day stay at the
jail in the fall of 2012.
"We do not underestimate the severity of the intrusions
plaintiff endured during her incarceration," Circuit Judge
Richard Griffin wrote for the appeals court majority.
"However, our task is to determine whether the particularized
right implicated by defendant's actions was clearly established
at the time plaintiff was searched," he added. "We hold that it
was not."
Circuit Judge Eric Clay dissented, finding no special
justifications for the group searches, which violated Sumpter's
"clearly established" Fourth Amendment rights. He would have
reversed a lower court judgment favoring the defendants.
Wayne County banned group strip searches in December 2013, court
records show.
Sumpter's lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Daniel Pfannes, undersheriff of the Wayne County Sheriff's
office, said in an interview: "We are vindicated by the decision
and very pleased by the legal logic the court employed to reach
it."
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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