A civil rights lawsuit brought against a Los Angeles police detective by a woman who spent 17 years imprisoned for a murder she did not commit can move forward, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena determined that a lower court should not have tossed Susan Mellen's suit against Detective Marcella Winn.
Mellen -- who was initially sentenced to life in prison -- was declared factually innocent in 2014 by a judge who said her conviction appeared to be based on the testimony of a "habitual liar."
The South Bay woman was convicted in May 1998 of killing 30-year-old Richard Daly, a homeless man said to be Mellen's then-boyfriend, whose body was found in a San Pedro alley. Mellen's lawsuit chiefly blames Winn, calling the detective "the architect of this injustice."
According to the appellate panel, Mellen was convicted based solely on the testimony of June Patti, who claimed Mellen had confessed her involvement in the crime.
"Mellen's evidence at summary judgment raises a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Detective Winn knew that June Patti was a liar, and failed to disclose material, exculpatory, evidence of that fact," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the panel. "Summary judgment should not have been granted on this record. Mellen should have the opportunity to prove, after nearly two decades, whether wrongful conduct played a role in her conviction, and whether she deserves compensation for her wrongful imprisonment."
The panel sent the case back to a Los Angeles federal judge for further hearings.
