In this 60-minute podcast, host Bruce-Alan Barnard from LEA ONE provides an in-depth analysis of the Fifth Circuit decision in Villareal v. City of Laredo et al decided on November 1, 2021.
In this case, the Fifth Circuit denied qualified immunity to officers who made an arrest under an arrest warrant because the statute under which the arrest was made was deemed to be unconstitutional after the arrest. The court held that, notwithstanding the fact that no court had ever declared the statute unconstitutional and a neutral magistrate issued an arrest warrant under the statute, the officers should have independently determined that the statute was unconstitutional and not made the arrest.