Judge throws out Nokomis couple's civil rights suit

[News Flash]

Judge throws out Nokomis couple's civil rights suit

SARASOTA COUNTY - A federal judge threw out a Nokomis couple's civil rights lawsuit on Thursday, even though he ruled two sheriff's deputies illegally entered their home without a warrant in 2006.

John and Cynthia Coffin had sued the deputies who came to their house to serve court papers but ended up in a dangerous brawl with them inside their home.

U.S. District Judge Richard Lazzara ruled that deputies Stacy Brandau and James Lutz did not have legal authority to enter the Coffins' residence through an open garage door, violating the couple's right to not submit to an unlawful search.

But Lazzara also found that at the time of the incident the law was unclear about whether entering an open garage violated that Fourth Amendment right.

It was only a year later that a legal ruling clearly established that the deputies had broken the law, Lazzara wrote.

That means the deputies did not have "fair warning" that their behavior was illegal, giving them protection from liability for violating the Coffins' constitutional rights, Lazzara ruled.

"Deputies could not have known whether entering the garage without a warrant was clearly a violation of the Coffins' constitutional rights," Lazzara wrote.

The attorney for the Coffins, Drake Buckman, said he plans to appeal the ruling.

The fight between the deputies and the Coffins started in the garage.

John Coffin, 58, beat up the deputies inside his house after seeing them arresting his wife, Cynthia, 51. He struck one in the head with a Taser he took from the other.

Both Coffins were arrested after the fight, but judges threw out most of those charges earlier this year because the deputies had no legal authority to enter the garage in the first place.

A state circuit judge ruled that "law enforcement was responsible for the chain of events here."

A Sarasota County Sheriff's Office internal affairs investigation also determined that the deputies acted unlawfully, and both deputies were suspended for a week and required to complete training on legal issues of searches and seizures.

In a plea agreement, the charges against Cynthia Coffin were dropped, as were several against John Coffin, who pleaded no contest to a charge of taking a Taser from one of the deputies during the fight.

Source

[Retired n Luvin it]

The dept and the deputies are very VERY lucky the judge ruled in their favor..

Even a blind squirrel finds an occasional acorn!! Phew !

The dept and the deputies are very VERY lucky the judge ruled in their favor..

Even a blind squirrel finds an occasional acorn!! Phew !

Give it some time and she will manage to screw something else up big time.