A federal appeals court has dismissed an appeal by three former New Haven Police Detectives, affirming the lower court’s denial of qualified immunity to the Detectives and putting ECBAWM client Vernon Horn’s wrongful conviction case on track for a federal jury trial.

ECBAWM attorneys Ilann Maazel, Nick Bourland, and Hannah Brudney represent Mr. Horn, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1999 robbery and murder at a New Haven deli. Almost 20 years later, the state vacated Mr. Horn’s conviction based on newly discovered exculpatory evidence that had been suppressed by the Detectives. In 2018, Mr. Horn a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of New Haven and the Detectives, alleging that police fabricated evidenced and suppressed information in violation of their constitutional rights.

In their appeal, the Detectives argued that they had acted reasonably and did not violate Mr. Horn’s clearly established constitutional rights when they threatened and coerced key witnesses during off-the-record interrogation sessions and then suppressed any evidence regarding the same.  The Second Circuit dismissed the Detectives’ appeal, holding that it did not have appellate jurisdiction to hear the Detectives’ qualified immunity arguments “[b]ecause the resolution of the immunity question depends on disputed facts and debated inferences from the record” which must be resolved by a jury at trial.