WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday said D.C. police officers acted reasonably in arresting 21 people at a late-night house party a decade ago in a case that featured women in garter belts stuffed with cash and a mystery hostess named Peaches.
The court ruled unanimously that the officers could not be held liable for making the arrests after they came upon a scene of "utter Bacchanalia," as Justice Clarence Thomas described it in announcing the decision, at a house party where the homeowner was not present and it was unclear if the guests had been invited.
"Based on the vagueness and implausibility of the partygoers' stories, the officers could have reasonably inferred that they were lying and that their lies suggested a guilty mind," Thomas wrote in his decision for the court. At any rate, the officers had qualified immunity for their actions, the court said.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the outcome of the case, but did not go along with all of Thomas's reasoning.
The case arose in March 2008 after D.C. police officers were called to investigate noise complaints at a brick duplex on Anacostia Avenue. The question for the court was whether the officers acted legally and reasonably when they arrested 21 people for trespassing. Also at issue: whether they should still be shielded from the lawsuit and upward of $1 million in damages even if the officers were wrong and did not meet the "probable cause" standard.
Guests at the party told police they weren't certain who owned the sparsely furnished home and gave conflicting reasons for being there. Some said they were invited by a woman named "Peaches" to a bachelor party. Others said it was a birthday celebration.
Peaches, however, was not present. When officers reached the homeowner by phone, he said he had not signed off on a party.
All the charges eventually were dropped and 16 of the partygoers filed a lawsuit. A federal jury awarded $680,000 in damages - a figure that eventually reached nearly $1 million with the addition of legal costs.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with the partygoers, finding that the officers - Andre Parker and Anthony Campanale - were not immune from legal action for the unlawful arrests. The full D.C. Circuit declined to rehear the case.
At oral arguments in October, justices repeatedly referred to the mysterious hostess by her nickname as they wrestled with the free-for-all culture of contemporary house parties and recalled their youthful days and the parties they once attended.
Government officials, including police officers, generally are shielded from lawsuits when they carry out their duties in good faith. Even the justices who appeared sympathetic to the partygoers, said police need to have the latitude to make judgment calls about suspects and the circumstances they investigate.
"Peaches" had never been identified in court documents or proceedings. But after publicity from the case, people who knew Peaches contacted The Washington Post and identified her as Veronica Little, a bartender and entrepreneur who died in 2016.
Little had been a popular fixture at a now-shuttered gentleman's club in Northeast Washington and often recruited the club's dancers to perform at parties she organized.
Friends of Peaches also solved the mystery of her nickname. Little, a friend said, was from Georgia.
The case is District of Columbia v. Wesby.
NW News on 01/23/2018