Henderson Sheriff's office, judge ask to dismiss federal civil rights lawsuit against them
The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office and former District Court Judge Emily Cowan are asking a federal court judge to dismiss a lawsuit claiming they violated the civil rights of a Flat Rock resident.
Pro se plaintiff Mackenzie Brown, 26, alleges the defendants violated her First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights, among others, in part by arresting her and posting a handcuffed picture of her on social media after she wrote “12 SUX” on a sheriff’s cruiser. She also claims her rights were infringed upon when a warrant against her abuser “mysteriously disappeared,” she said.
Her markings, which mean “law enforcement sucks,” were written on a specialty wrapped sheriff’s vehicle donated by Advent Health in October 2021. The public was invited to sign or write notes on the car during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Brown first filed the lawsuit in September 2023 with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina in Asheville. She names five members of the sheriff’s office, a Henderson County Detention Facility officer and a magistrate in her lawsuit alongside the judge and sheriff’s office as a whole.
In an amended complaint May 13, Brown lists multiple new claims of rights violations, bringing the total to 15. New motions for dismissal complicate whether the defendants legally violated her rights.
“It’s heartbreaking; It feels like I can’t trust the people who are supposed to keep you safe because when one does you wrong, it makes you feel like the entire justice system is corrupt,” Brown told the Citizen Times, referencing law enforcement's time spent on her arrest while the person later charged for assaulting her walked free.
What are the arguments?
On Oct. 1, 2021, Brown was 16 weeks pregnant when she went to the Henderson County Magistrate’s Office to file charges against her former boyfriend, who she said had assaulted her and made death threats to her and her unborn child, she told the Citizen Times. She took a photo of the complaint and submitted it to the magistrate on duty, defendant Susan Oates.
Exiting the office, she noticed the sharpie markings on the patrol car and wrote “12 SUX.” There were no rules, regulations or directions about what the public could or could not write, both parties attest. About an hour later, sheriff deputies Robert Warren and Crystal Landers arrested Brown from her Flat Rock home under a charge of injury to personal property, according to court documents.
The deputies took photos of Brown handcuffed in front of the partially pink-wrapped patrol car, according to court documents from both the defense and prosecution. Later that day, the sheriff’s office posted the pictures of Brown on Facebook, which she claims violated her Fourth Amendment rights through harassment and intimidation. She said the post was “defaming (her) in a false light about her arrest.”
The post read: "Seeing how Mackenzie is such a supporter of our pink patrol car we decided to allow her to be the first person to ride in the back seat of it and we also gave her a complimentary stay in the ole gray bar hotel."
Brown claims that her arrest came as a retaliation against her free speech and unlawful seizure rights protected under the First Amendment and resulted in a false arrest and malicious prosecution. Though she pleaded not guilty under a First Amendment claim, Brown was later convicted in district court. She appealed her case to Henderson County Superior Court and District Attorney Andrew Murray’s Office dismissed the charge on Oct. 25, 2022.
Defense attorney Sean Perrin argues the lawsuit claims against the sheriff's office, workers and deputies and must be dismissed because Henderson County District Court found probable cause for her arrest, as demonstrated by her conviction. Perrin is representing the following named defendants: Henderson County Sheriff’s Office and sheriff employees Robert Warren, Michael Lindsay, Crystal Landers, Bradley Reese, Brittany Maybin and public information officer Johnny Duncan.
Though Brown's charges were dismissed when she appealed her case to Superior Court, the prior conviction still establishes probable cause based on Fourth Circuit rulings, Perrin wrote in a motion to dismiss. The Citizen Times reached out to Perrin and his assistant but did not receive a response before press time.
Perrin also argues Brown’s claims about the social media post fall short because “numerous courts have held that posting mugshots, or similar photographs, to the public or on public websites does not implicate the Constitution.”
Issues in the magistrate's office and detention facility
When Brown was booked into the Henderson County Detention Facility, she was given a secured bond of $2,000. Detention Officer Brittany Maybin told Brown she might have to stay the entire weekend in jail because no bondsman was willing to come get her. Maybin allegedly said to her, “We told them what you wrote, and they respect us, so they don’t want to come get you now,” Brown said in her complaint.
Brown claims that Maybin violated her liberty rights by “using intimidation tactics to coerce surety companies to refuse to assist” her. Perrin asserts this claim fails because Brown bonded out less than three hours after being admitted into jail, meaning Maybin’s actions “did not adversely affect” Brown’s rights.
Seven months later, Brown went back to the magistrate’s office to inquire about charges against her former boyfriend. She was told her criminal complaint form, given to defendant Oates, “was never filed” and there was no record of it, Brown wrote in court documents.
Brown alleges she was told to come back when Oates was on duty, and when she did, Oates was “dismissive and evasive” and told her to leave. Brown eventually got a criminal summons on her alleged assaulter after another trip to the magistrate.
“The case was never resolved before he passed away,” Brown said. “It never got resolved, and it would have if she had gone about it in the procedural way. That’s the part I care about the most, even more than being arrested.”
Brown claims Oates violated North Carolina Victim’s Rights Act, obstructed justice and spoliated evidence (failing to preserve potentially relevant evidence) in the handling of her criminal complaint.
Defense attorney Elizabeth Curran O’Brien with the Attorney General’s Office argues there are no facts to support the claim that Oates tampered with the complaint. Because Brown did not complete an affidavit, the record is not required to be kept under the North Carolina Rules of Recordkeeping, O’Brien wrote in a motion to dismiss.
O’Brien also asserts that her clients, magistrate Oats and Judge Cowan, have absolute judicial immunity and “may not be attacked for exercising judicial authority.” O'Brien declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Both the defendants and Brown now await a final ruling from Chief Judge Martin Reidinger.
“More than I want the money, I want each one of them fired,” Brown said. “I would like not only to receive justice for the wrong done to me, but I also wish to prevent it in any way I can in the future for other citizens.”
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Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Henderson County Sheriff, judge ask for civil rights lawsuit dismissal
