Probation Officers Not Liable for Holding Wrong Person Four Days

Two Wisconsin probation officers who took four and a half days to investigate a suspect’s claim that his brother was the subject of the warrant used to arrest him didn’t violate the suspect’s due process rights, the Seventh Circuit said.

Minerva Santiago and Oscar Garay weren’t deliberately indifferent to Eli Martinez’s claim that he was the wrong man, the opinion by Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi said Monday.

Martinez’s criminal record was intertwined with that of his brother, Hector Rodriguez. Rodriguez used Martinez’s name as an alias, and their FBI numbers “seemed to link to information about the wrong person,” Santiago said. ...