DISCLAIMER: Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
132317P.pdf 08/08/2014 Michael Dowell v. Lincoln County, Missouri
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 13-2317
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis
[PUBLISHED] [Bye, Author, with Chief Judge Riley and Kelly, Circuit
Judges]
Civil Case - civil rights. Following interrogation, arrest, and acquittal
of murder charges and dismissal of rape charges, grant of summary judgment
in favor of officers in civil rights action alleging Fourth, Fifth and
Sixth Amendment violations is affirmed. Circumstances during
pre-Miranda-warning van ride to station do not show statements made were
anything but voluntary. Dowell failed to show atmosphere during
interrogation post-Mirranda warnings were so intimidating or coercive so
as to compel him to be untruthful. Because no statements made by Dowell
without counsel were presented at trial, district court did not err in
granting summary judgment on Sixth Amendment claim. Dowell's Fourth
Amendment claim failed because even with the omitted facts in the probable
cause statement, probable cause existed.