Jean Arline Martinelli & Jack Martinelli v. City of Beaumont, John Acosta, Tony Augustyn, David C. Van Buren

Jean and Jack Martinelli sued the City of Beaumont, the County of Riverside, and three Beaumont police officers, alleging civil rights violations, false arrest, conspiracy, false imprisonment, and violations of California state law. The County of Riverside was dismissed before trial. The district judge directed a verdict in favor of Officer Augustyn and the City of Beaumont, and the jury returned verdicts in favor of Officers Acosta and Van Burén. We hold that the judge erred in instructing the jury that the provision of the penal code at issue in this case was constitutional as applied, and we therefore reverse the judgments in favor of Officers Acosta and Van Burén and remand for a new trial as to those parties. We affirm the judgments in favor of Officers Augustyn and the City of Beaumont.

I

On October 8,1984, defendant police officers Van Burén, Acosta and Augustyn approached Jean Martinelli in a laundromat and questioned her about a hit-and-run accident that occurred outside the laundromat on September 20, 1984. The officers told Martinelli that they were investigating an accident that may have involved her automobile, and they asked her if she was the owner of the car in…