Bunyon v. Burke County.

U.S. District Court

INITIAL APPEARANCE

Bunyon v. Burke County, 285 F.Supp.2d 1310 (S.D.Ga. 2003). An arrestee brought an action against municipal officials alleging due process violations and false imprisonment. The district court held that the arresting officer violated the arrestee's due process rights by failing to take the arrestee before a judicial officer, and that a false imprisonment claim against the officer was viable. The court found that the officials responsible for incarcerating the arrestee for misdemeanor violations violated the arrestee's due process rights by failing to afford him an opportunity to post bail as required under state law. According to the court, the law clearly established that a pretrial detainee could not be detained for twelve days without being brought before a judge or being allowed to pay bail. The court also held that the arrest warrant used to arrest the plaintiff was defective under state law because is was not a bench warrant, which was the only warrant the judge had the authority to issue, and therefore a false imprisonment claim was viable since the process could have been obtained in bad faith as a means for the officer to incarcerate the plaintiff and extract information from him. (Burke County Jail, Georgia)