Civil Rights
Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a petition for rehearing this week in a lawsuit challenging Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's pink underwear policy.
Barring Supreme Court intervention, that means the Ninth Circuit's panel decision ordering a new trial in the case stands.
Maricopa County officers detained Eric Vogel while investigating a burglary in 2001. Vogel was arrested for assaulting a police officer in an ensuing struggle. At the Phoenix jail -- which the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio runs -- Vogel was diagnosed as disoriented, paranoid, and psychotic, and placed on psychiatric hold.
In accordance with Arpaio's jail rules, Vogel was forced to "dress out," change into the prison uniform and pink underwear. Vogel, however, refused. When the dress out officer summoned four additional offers to hold Vogel down while his clothes and underwear were changed, Vogel yelled that he was being raped.
After Vogel was released, he was in a minor car accident with his mother. Upon hearing there was a warrant for his arrest, and that he might be returned to jail, Vogel ran four or five miles from the car. He died the next day from acute cardiac arrhythmia.
Vogel's family sued Sheriff Arpaio and Maricopa County, claiming that Arpaio's pink underwear and civil rights violations caused Vogel's death. The district court limited plaintiffs' evidence during the trial, and the jury found in favor of the defendants.
On appeal, the Ninth Circuit panel held:
While Vogel's family will have another chance to re-try their case and present the previously-excluded evidence, it doesn't mean they'll win. Sheriff Arpaio (who just won re-election to his sixth term) clearly has support from the locals who would be on a future jury in the case.
Related Resources: