6th Circuit splits on sons’ claim over father being framed for murder

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted May 8, 2023 11:55 AM

Contending their father was locked up for 32 years because a Detroit detective framed him for murder, Danny Lamont Chambers and Dontell Rayvon-Eddie Smith sued for an alleged violation of their 14th Amendment right to “familial integrity.” But with one judge dissenting, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judgment that tossed the complaint — because the sons didn’t allege that Detective Ronald Sanders and the city “acted with a culpable state of mind, directed toward them or their family unit.”Circuit Judge …

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