Quirindongo v. Rolon Morales
Case Date: 09/03/1992
Docket No: 92-1544
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September 3, 1992 [NOT FOR PUBLICATION] ___________________ No. 92-1544 BENJAMIN QUIRINDONGO, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. JOSE L. ROLON MORALES, ET AL., Defendants, Appellees. __________________ APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO [Hon. Jose Antonio Fuste, U.S. District Judge] ___________________ ___________________ Before Torruella, Cyr and Stahl, Circuit Judges. ______________ ___________________ Raul Barrera Morales on brief for appellant. ____________________ __________________ __________________ Per Curiam. Plaintiff appeals from a jury verdict for __________ defendants (three law enforcement officers) in an action for, essentially, malicious prosecution. Plaintiff contends that the jury verdict was unsupported by the evidence. We disagree. Plaintiff acknowledges that one of the elements he was required to prove was that defendants initiated criminal charges maliciously and without probable cause. While plaintiff proved that the charges against him were dismissed (when the prosecutor failed to obey a court order to produce a videotape which the defendants had represented would inculpate plaintiff) and plaintiff asserted his innocence, the jury could permissibly conclude that plaintiff did not adequately demonstrate lack of probable cause or maliciousness. The jury was not required to conclude from plaintiff's bald assertion of innocence and the prosecutor's failure to produce the videotape that the charging officers necessarily acted maliciously and without probable cause as opposed, for example, to innocently and upon a reasonable, but ultimately mistaken, belief. The judgment is summarily affirmed pursuant to First Circuit Rule 27.1. -2- |