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Russ v. City of Jacksonville5/19/1999
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Duval County. Brian Davis, Judge.
Henry R. Russ, Jr., appeals the final judgment in his false arrest action against appellee, the City of Jacksonville (the City). Because the trial court abused its discretion in excluding Russ's use of impeaching evidence relevant to the credibility and reliability of the arresting officer and central witness on behalf of the City, we reverse and remand for new trial.
Factual and Procedural Background
On October 24, 1995, at approximately 10:00 p.m., Russ was stopped by Officer Eugene R. Baker of the Sheriff's Office of the City of Jacksonville. After he administered field sobriety tests, Officer Baker arrested Russ for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Russ was transported to the Duval County Jail, where a breathalyzer test was administered twice, and on each test appellant's results were .000. Russ spent the night in jail. The next morning, the assistant state attorney offered to allow him to plead to reckless driving in exchange for dismissing the DUI charge. Russ pled no contest to reckless driving with adjudication withheld.
In July 1996, Russ filed suit against the City, alleging that he had been falsely arrested for DUI without probable cause. The case was initially set for trial during the week of August 25, 1997. On August 14, 1997, the City secured a protective order prohibiting any and all argument, testimony, evidence or comment at trial regarding Officer Baker's transfer from the DUI unit of the sheriff's office or the introduction of any evidence regarding other DUI arrests made by Officer Baker.
The trial date was continued. The August 30, 1997 edition of The Florida Times-Union included an article stating that depositions taken in an unrelated DUI case revealed that Officer Baker and another officer had been removed from the DUI squads "because of questions about his credibility" and described criticism within the sheriff's office of the alleged "over zealous" practices of those officers in making DUI arrests. On September 17, 1997, Russ filed a motion for leave to file an amended complaint seeking to add a count for negligent retention of Officer Baker. In the motion to amend, Russ alleged that, when the City's motion for protective order was argued, he had no knowledge of any concerns about Officer Baker and, therefore, knew no basis to contest the City's motion. Russ's motion to amend was denied and trial was set for January 5, 1998, before a different Judge.
The trial was, in effect, a swearing match between Russ and Officer Baker. According to Officer Baker, he made the traffic stop because Russ was driving erratically. Russ, who was driving home from a local tavern where he had met with a business associate, testified that he was driving normally. Officer Baker testified that, when Russ exited the car, he could smell alcohol on appellant's breath. Russ testified that he had only two sips of beer at the tavern. Officer Baker administered a series of field sobriety tests, which he felt Russ performed poorly. On the other hand, Russ testified that he thought he performed the tasks well and was very surprised when Officer Baker arrested him for DUI.
At trial, Officer Baker was presented as a trained law enforcement officer who followed the procedures of the sheriff's office. On cross-examination, Russ sought to impeach Officer Baker by questioning him with regard to the information in the August 30, 1997, newspaper article and an intradepartmental memorandum from the records of the sheriff's office. The City objected,
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