Gatlin Ex Rel. Gatlin v. Green.

• Position: FREE SPEECH, EXPRESSION, ASSOC. - Civil rights conspiracy - Brief Article

U.S. District Court

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Gatlin Ex Rel. Gatlin v. Green, 227 F.Supp.2d 1064 (D.Minn. 2002). The estate of a cooperating witness in a murder investigation brought civil rights, civil rights conspiracy, and state law claims against a police officer and city. The witness had been murdered after police released a prisoner's letter that identified the witness. The district court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The court found that there was no clearly established right at the time of the murder, that required police or jail officers to embargo or detain threatening prison mail or to protect cooperating confidential informants from retaliatory violence. The court noted...