Blind-Doan v. Sanders

291 F.3d 1079 (9th 2002)

Facts

P and her companion Terry Doan turned themselves in to the Police after having been told the police were looking for them on a child neglect charge. They were booked and held in the local jail. Early Saturday morning, P repeatedly and noisily called out for needed toiletries. D, a sergeant responded to P's requests and eventually allowed her to call her mother. He escorted her back to her cell. P claims that D entered her cell, told her he was going to teach her a lesson, overpowered her, and inserted his police baton into her vagina. D denied the assault, testifying that he did enter the cell but did not carry his baton with him or assault her. Layton, the dispatcher testified that she saw D bring P back to her cell and that he did not have his baton with him; that she saw no bodily contact between P and D; and that she heard no threats from D to P. P listed seventeen witnesses who would testify to other, assertedly relevant acts of D. All of it was excluded in limine. The magistrate judge made the exclusion at argument, vaguely identifying why two types of proffered testimony should be excluded. The exclusion was finalized by means of a one-sentence order without findings or any explanation for his decision. The jury returned a verdict for D and P appealed.