Carl Johannes Anderson v. Walter C. Nemetz, Individually and as Chief of the City of Scottsdale Police Department

This is an appeal from a final judgment dismissing an action brought under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 , for declaratory and injunctive relief against further prosecution under a section of the Arizona vagrancy statute. We reverse and remand.

The undisputed facts reveal the following :

1. Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-991, subsec. 3 provides:

2. In 1967, appellant, a 20-year-old resident of Scottsdale, was arrested by two city police officers and charged under section three of the vagrancy statute.

3. He was taken to the police station, questioned, stripped and searched for narcotics. No evidence of any crime was found and he was released on $50 bond.

4. A complaint was filed against him, and a court trial was held in the Scottsdale City Court. The officers testified that they arrested appellant because they believed he was in a place where he should not be, he had no legal business being there, and he could give no satisfactory reason why he should be there.

5. Appellant’s sole defense was the unconstitutionality of the statute. His motion to dismiss the -prosecution was denied and he was found guilty. *

6. He appealed to the Maricopa County Superior Court on…