United States District Court, D. Connecticut
NOTICE OF DISQUALIFICATION
JEFFREY ALKER MEYER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
Plaintiff
Bobby Johnson has filed this action for damages against the
City of New Haven and individual members of the New Haven
Police Department whom Johnson believes are responsible for
his wrongful arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. The action
has proceeded through initial motions and discovery, and last
week counsel appeared before the Court for arguments on
motions for summary judgment.
Very
shortly before holding argument on the summary judgment
motions, I realized for the first time that there might be a
basis for my recusal from this action. After further
consideration of this basis, I contacted counsel last week to
schedule a teleconference for yesterday. This notice of
disqualification sets forth the basis as explained in the
teleconference for my decision to recuse myself from this
action.
In the
Spring of 2007, I was a law professor at the Quinnipiac
University School of Law, following years of service as a
federal prosecutor in Connecticut. After the much-publicized
arrest of Lt. William (Billy) White of the New Haven Police
Department, Mayor John DeStefano retained a national police
consulting firm known as the Police Executive Research Forum
(“PERF”) to conduct an audit of the operations of
the New Haven Police Department and to propose reforms. Mayor
DeStefano also created an ad hoc citizen's panel
known as the Independent Accountability Panel
(“IAP”) to gather public input and to comment on
PERF's audit and reform proposals.
Mayor
DeStefano contacted me to request that I serve as a volunteer
co-chair of the IAP. Beginning in May 2007, the IAP convened
several community forums in New Haven to solicit input from
the community about how the police department should be
reformed. These forums were also attended by representatives
of PERF and by police officials. A news account reflects that
defendants Ortiz as police chief and Badger as assistant
police chief attended at least one of the
forums.[1] I would expect that Ortiz and/or Badger
likely attended other forums and meetings involving PERF and
the IAP, although I do not recall any conversations or
dealings with them.
After
PERF issued a draft report to propose certain reforms to the
New Haven Police Department, I coordinated the IAP's
response to PERF's recommendations and forwarded the
IAP's comments to the Mayor's office. PERF issued its
final report in November 2007.[2] The IAP did not otherwise
generate its own report. After the submission of these
comments on the PERF report, I do not recall any further
action taken by the IAP or by me with respect to any proposed
reforms to the New Haven Police Department.
Federal
law provides that a judge “shall disqualify himself in
any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be
questioned.” 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). Section 455
further provides that a judge shall disqualify himself
“[w]here he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning
a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts
concerning the proceeding, ” or “[w]here he has
served in governmental employment and in such capacity
participated as counsel, adviser or material witness
concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning
the merits of the particular case in controversy.”
§ 455(b)(1) & (b)(3). The U.S. Code of Conduct for
United States Judges likewise imposes an obligation on
federal judges to uphold the integrity and independence of
the Judiciary and to perform judicial duties fairly and
impartially. See generally Code of Conduct for U.S.
Judges (effective March 12, 2019).
I
believe that I am and would be fair and impartial in this
action, and I do not believe that I held a position or
acquired knowledge that actually undermined my ability to be
impartial. Nevertheless, a judge's duty to recuse extends
to situations where there is even an appearance that a judge
would not be impartial-where the judge's impartiality
might reasonably be questioned. See, e.g., Chase
Manhattan Bank v. Affiliated FM Ins. Co., 343 F.3d 120,
127 (2d Cir. 2003). I conclude that there would be an
appearance that I would not be impartial in light of my prior
service as co-chair of the IAP. Because the events at issue
concerning Bobby Johnson's guilty plea and sentencing
took place at the same time as my involvement with the IAP
and because I attended IAP forums on the subject of police
department reforms with two of the named defendants (Ortiz
and Badger) in 2007, whose supervisory conduct at that time
is very much in dispute in this action, I conclude that my
impartiality could be reasonably subject to question in light
of the timing and particular facts of this case.
Accordingly,
I have decided to recuse myself from this action. The parties
have worked hard to ensure the expeditious progress of this
case, and I regret that I did not realize and appreciate this
ground for disqualification at an earlier time. The Clerk of
Court shall place this case in the wheel for random
assignment to another district judge in the District of
Connecticut.
It is
so ordered.
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Notes:
[1] See Melinda Tuhus, Police
Responsiveness a Focus at Forum, New Haven Independent
(May 24, 2007).
[2]
See Melissa Bailey, Read
Final PERF Report, New Haven Independent (Nov. 16,
2007), available at
https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/readfinal perf report/. There were numerous media
accounts in 2007 about the arrest of Billy White, the
City's ...