Oregon officers seek qualified immunity in federal appeal over alleged evidence fabrication

During a hearing before a Ninth Circuit three-judge panel, Oregon police officers argued they should receive qualified immunity from a federal suit alleging they fabricated evidence to secure a conviction. The dispute originates from the 2000 disappearance of 15-year-old Leah Freeman and the 2011 conviction of her then-boyfriend, Nicholas McGuffin, which was overturned in 2019 after the state lab failed to disclose male DNA evidence.

McGuffin filed a civil action in 2020 claiming the officers violated his constitutional rights and harmed his daughter, who was born after the original investigation. A district court found sufficient evidence for a jury to consider the claims and denied the officers' summary-judgment motion. At the appellate level, Judges Margaret McKeown, Morgan Christen, and N. Randy Smith questioned whether the court could review the sufficiency of the evidence, noting their jurisdiction is limited while the underlying case proceeds.