In a new filing in Jose “Chille” DeCastro’s Las Vegas based federal civil rights lawsuit, attorney Micheal Mee, representing DeCastro, has filed a request for a supplemental briefing schedule to update the arguments to the existing motion for summary judgment based on the overturning of the conviction of DeCastro for the charges that spawned the case.
Despite dire wording, what Mee filed is standard procedure as the underlying verdict of the state level case has changed since the motion for summary judgment was filed. Essentially when the motion was filed, DeCastro had been convicted of the crime, now that conviction has been overturned Mee would like to talk about it.
Mee’s dire statements that the state level court concluded that “the officer’s actions were wholly unlawful” and the inclusion of the lower court ruling as an exhibit may have some influence on the case.
Judge Andrew Gordon has already ruled on his own that there was probable cause for the arrest and has dismissed almost all of DeCastro’s charges against the LVMPD in a mix of dismissal with prejudice and dismissal without prejudice but with specific instructions on how they should be reargued; DeCastro then ignored that ruling and essentially filed the same charges again.
Mee is simply looking to brief the court on the change of status and how it impacts the arguments for and against the motion for summary judgment at this time.
Judge Michelle Leavitt overturned DeCastro’s conviction of obstructing an officer and resisting arrest last month based on what she claimed to be first amendment protected conduct. DeCastro had served almost four months in the Clark County Detention Center at that point and has threatened to sue Nevada for his wrongful conviction.
Leavitt’s decision has been criticized as the judge has been accused of ignoring basic facts of the case. In her ruling she stated that arresting officer Brandan Borque arrested DeCastro for refusing to follow commands and back up to a safe distance. She found that because DeCastro backed up after Borque had announced that he was detaining DeCastro his actions were justification for overturning the sentencing.
Judge Gordon, reviewing the same evidence, found that Borque had properly acted in arresting DeCastro. DeCastro is seeking a multimillion-dollar judgement based on the arrest, discrimination and excessive force claims.
If granted, the supplemental briefing would be due within 14 days of the order, with the response from the defense due 14 days after that.
