In Melnik v. Dzurenda, published September 27, 2021, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a split decision, affirmed denial of a defense summary judgment motion based on qualified immunity. The plaintiff inmate was charged with improper use of the prison mail system to smuggle drugs through the mail. The defendant correctional officials had envelopes addressed to the plaintiff that contained drugs. A disciplinary proceeding was brought against the plaintiff. The officials denied the plaintiff's multiple requests to examine the envelopes or copies of the envelopes. The plaintiff was found guilty. He sued the officials for denial of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.
The panel majority held that the district court properly denied the defendants' summary judgment motion. On the first prong of qualified immunity, withholding documentary evidence from a disciplined inmate without an articulated explanation violated the inmate's established due process rights to present documentary evidence in his behalf. Further, on the second prong, because multiple courts had held that the right to request documentary evidence included the right to inspect the evidence or copies of the evidence, the right was clearly established.
The dissenting judge agreed that the inmate's rights were violated, but opined that because there was no on-point Supreme Court or published 9th Circuit authority establishing that right, and other circuits disagreed about it, the right was not clearly established.
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