plaintiff’s motion to compel with sanctions
TRANSCRIPT
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA DANVILLE DIVISION
ALVIN L. SUTHERLIN, JR.,
Plaintiff,Civil Action No. 4:15CV00037
v.
LIEUTENANT J. W. SMITH,
and
SERGEANT H. S. RICHARDSON,
and
OFFICER N. M. SLOVER, and
OFFICER M. C. PACE, and
OFFICER R. C. LANDRUM, and
OFFICER D. C. LANCASTER, and
OFFICER W. C. SHIVELY, and
OFFICER W. R. MERRILL, and
OFFICER J. D. DIXON, and
OFFICER L. D. LAND,
Defendants.
PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL WITH SANCTIONS
NOW COMES Plaintiff, Alvin L. Sutherlin, Jr. (Pro Se) requests that this
Honorable court compels the defendants to fulfill the court's Order filed on
04/01/2016 (Dkt No. 68) and subpoena filed on 12/22/2015 (Dkt No. 39). The
plaintiff respectively asks for sanctions against the defendants under Rule 37of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and enforce the sanctions against the defendants.
The subpoena (Dkt No. 39) reads as follows:
" YOU ARE COMMANDED to produce at the time, date, and place set forth below the following documents, electronically stored information, or objects, and to permit inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of the material. Any and all body warm camera (BWC) documentation filed within the Danville Police Department's records and/or Evidence.com. Including, but not limited to any officers failure to activate his or hers BWC, failure of any BWC at the beginning or during their shift, any written authorization to edit, alter, erase, duplicate, copy and/or share any BWC • video and/or audio from the following officers named: (SERGEANT H. S. RICHARDSON, OFFICER N.M. SLOVER, OFFICER M.C. PACE, OFFICER RC. LANDRUM, OFFICER D.C. LANCASTER, OFFICER W.C. SHIVELY, OFFICER W.R MERRILL, OFFICER J.D. DIXON, LIEUTENANT J. W. SMITH, OFFICER L. D. LAND, and/or CAPTAIN D. HALEY) in relating to any and all incidents at the location 505 Jefferson Street, Danville, Virginia 24541 on and after September 25th , 2013 involving Alvin L. Sutherlin Jr., Michelle Owens, and Brittney C. Logan."
The defendants have chosen to the defy the courts order in fully disclosing body
worn camera videos (BWC)'s (See: Elder v. City of
Danville, Va et al, No. 4:2013cv00047 (W.D. Va. 2014) and not provide all of the
unedited videos from all of the defendants present at 505 Jefferson street,
Danville Virginia for the September 25th 2013 as Order filed on 04/01/2016
(Dkt No. 68). The Order reads as follows:
"Plaintiffs subpoena to the Danville Police Department seeks “[a]ny and all body warm [sic] camera (BWC) documentation filed within the Danville Police Department’s records and/or Evidence.com. Including, but not limited to any officers [sic] failure to activate his or hers [sic] BWC, failure of any BWC . . . any written authorization to edit, alter, erase, duplicate, copy and/or share any BWC video and/or audio.” Dkt. No. 30. The subpoena requests information about footage obtained from an officer who is not named in Plaintiffs complaint as well as information about footage from September 25, 2013 and thereafter. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that information requested in discovery be relevant to a claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Plaintiffs request for information about the footage obtained by any officer not involved in the search of Plaintiff s residence or for any period of time beyond the execution of the search warrant on September 25. 2013 is neither relevant nor proportional to his claims. Accordingly, the subpoena shall be limited in scope to the footage from cameras worn by officers who were present during the execution of the warrant described in Plaintiffs complaint. The scope of the subpoena shall also be limited to the date and time period of the events described in the complaint and to the officers who are named as defendants in this case. Defendants’ motion to quash is therefore GRANTED in part. Defendants are directed to provide Plaintiff with the information requested in the subpoena (as limited by this order) within twenty-one (21) days of the date of this order."
The defendants have not produced any of the supporting documentation and records as stated within the subpoena including from Evidence.com and the plaintiff has only received some edited body worn camera (BWC) that have clearly been edited. These videos have already been submitted in as exhibits of evidence to the court. The plaintiff also still has not been given any body worn camera (BWC) videos from OFFICER D.C. LANCASTER, OFFICER L. D. LAND and/or LIEUTENANT J. W. SMITH to date.
All of the defendants in this case were present at 505 Jefferson street Danville
Virginia 24541on September 25th, 2013 and all were issued working body worn
cameras (BWC) on that day at the beginning of their shift following the Danville
Police Department's (BWC)'s policy. No sworn affidavits or official documents have been provided to show this map to the factual information.
Alvin L. Sutherlin, Jr. (Pro Se)
505 Jefferson Street, 1st, Floor
Danville, Virginia 24541-2037
434-728-2673 (Cell phone)
I hereby certify that the foregoing notice of lawsuit was sent by regular mail, postal paid or hand delivered, this 22nd, day of April, 2016 to Clerk of Court of The United States District Court For Western District of Virginia Danville Division and .I also hereby certify that I have mailed or hand delivered a copy of the foregoing to the office of Daniel, Medley & Kirby, P.C, 110 North Union Street P. O. Box 720, Danville, VA 24543-0720