SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge in San Francisco tossed a lawsuit brought by a man who claimed police used false evidence to paint him as a gang member and keep him in custody to face charges for the murder of his daughter’s pimp.
Barry Gilton claims that in 2012, Calvin Sneed was pimping Gilton’s then 17-year-old daughter. Sneed came to Gilton's home to pick up the daughter and take her to Los Angeles, where she had been staying, and died of a gunshot wound to his forehead near Gilton's home fired by an unknown passenger in a silver SUV that had pulled up beside him.
Gilton spent seven years in custody before being acquitted of his role in Sneed's murder. He says police used bogus evidence to accuse him of being a gang member to keep him in custody and sued the city of San Francisco on claims of fabrication of evidence, malicious prosecution, conspiracy and failure to intervene, among others
Police said Gilton was a member of a racketeering enterprise, the Central Divisadero Playas. In his complaint, Gilton focused on three pieces of evidence he says were fabricated.
Gilton touted a Central Divisadero Playas organizational chart he claims was used to justify his prosecution and was used as evidence at his trial. He says police were “intimately familiar with the CDP gang” and knew that the evidence was untrue.
He also says police falsely said Gilton visited a known gang hideout, which Gilton says was actually his grandmother’s house.
Finally, Gilton claims police coerced a witness identified as JB to testify that Gilton and his family members were “important” CDP members and “repeatedly threatened” JB with a lengthy prison sentence if he refused.
On Tuesday, Senior U.S. District Judge William Orrick tossed Gilton's lawsuit, finding a lack of concrete proof of falsified evidence and an inability to point to a specific constitutional violation.
“Gilton’s allegations are too conclusory to support his claim and his specific allegations of fabricated evidence — the CDP organizational chart, that Gilton frequented a ‘known gang hideout’ on Steiner Street, and JB’s testimony that ‘all Giltons were important CDP members’ — fall short,” Orrick wrote.
Orrick ruled that the chart and JB’s testimony did not result in Gilton’s prosecution or pretrial detention, and that Gilton did not allege what evidence was manipulated or “to whom any representation about the ‘known gang hideout’ was made.”
“Although the first amended complaint also alleges that the chart ‘was used to justify [Gilton’s] prosecution’ and ‘was used to arrest, detain, and prosecute’ him, these allegations are too conclusory to support his claim, as they do not sufficiently detail how the chart resulted in his arrest or prosecution,” Orrick wrote.
“The FAC does not plausibly tie the identified evidence to an identified deprivation of liberty. It is unclear whether Gilton challenges his indictment, his prosecution, his detention, or something else, and how the above-mentioned evidence caused any of it,” Orrick wrote.
Orrick dismissed Gilton's malicious prosecution claims because there was no evidence of misconduct that was “actively instrumental” in causing Gilton’s prosecution.
“Put simply, although Gilton identifies certain evidence that he contends was fabricated, he does not sufficiently connect that evidence to the initiation of legal proceedings against him — just as he does not sufficiently tie it to any deprivation of liberty for his fabrication of evidence claim,” Orrick wrote. “He does not allege that this evidence was presented to the prosecutor or when any such presentation occurred. His malicious prosecution claim fails.”
Gilton contends that his acquittal is proof that there was no probable cause that he was a gang member, but Orrick disagreed, writing that there is a much higher burden of proof in criminal cases than there is to arrest someone for suspicion of a crime.
“Gilton has not sufficiently alleged that the individual defendants acted without probable cause, which is required to state his claim for malicious prosecution,” Orrick wrote.
Orrick noted he presided over a RICO murder case involving Gilton in 2020, and while the judge found no evidence Gilton was a CDP member "I also concluded that there was no doubt that he participated in the murder of Calvin Sneed."
The judge gave Gilton 20 days to amend the complaint.
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