## Facts

- Bruce Dougherty, a sixth-grade teacher, was accused by multiple female students of inappropriate touching at school.
- A police sex-crimes detective sought a warrant to search Dougherty’s home and seize computers and electronic media to look for child pornography.
- The warrant affidavit described the students’ allegations and the detective’s training and experience, and asserted that people who commit child sexual abuse often possess child pornography.
- The affidavit did not allege facts showing Dougherty possessed or sought child pornography, or that he used computers or electronic devices in connection with the alleged misconduct.
- A magistrate issued the warrant; officers executed it the next day and seized computers and electronic media, retaining them for more than a year.
- No child-pornography charge was filed.
- Bruce and his son Jonathan sued the City, the detective, and the police chief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for Fourth Amendment violations and for municipal and supervisory liability based on alleged policies and failures to train or supervise.
- The district court dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice under Rule 12(b)(6), finding probable cause, qualified immunity, and inadequate pleading of Monell and supervisory claims.

## Issues

1. Whether the affidavit established probable cause to search a home computer and electronic media for child pornography when it relied mainly on a generalized experience-based assertion connecting child molestation allegations to child pornography.
2. Whether the detective was entitled to qualified immunity even if the warrant lacked probable cause.
3. Whether the complaint plausibly stated municipal liability and supervisory liability claims, and whether dismissal with prejudice was proper.

## Decision

- The court held the warrant lacked probable cause to search for child pornography because the affidavit provided no particularized nexus between Dougherty, computers/electronic media, and child pornography.
- The court held the detective was entitled to qualified immunity because, at the time of the search, it was not clearly established in the circuit that such an affidavit was insufficient to support probable cause.
- The court affirmed dismissal with prejudice of the municipal and supervisory liability claims for failure to plead nonconclusory facts showing a policy/custom or deliberate indifference, and because amendment was deemed futile.
- The judgment was affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings consistent with these rulings.

## Legal Principles

- Probable cause to search for a specific type of evidence requires a particularized, fact-based nexus between the place to be searched and the evidence sought.
- A generalized “profile” inference—such as that suspected child molesters often possess child pornography—without additional evidentiary linkage, is insufficient to establish probable cause to search a computer for child pornography.
- Qualified immunity protects officers from damages when the unlawfulness of their conduct was not clearly established at the time, even if a warrant is later found unsupported by probable cause.
- Monell liability requires plausible, nonconclusory allegations of an official policy, longstanding practice, or deliberate indifference that caused the constitutional injury; supervisory liability requires factual allegations connecting supervisory conduct to the violation.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit ruled that allegations of sexual misconduct with students, combined only with an officer’s generalized experience claim, did not supply probable cause to search a suspect’s home computers for child pornography; however, the searching officer was shielded by qualified immunity because the law was unsettled, and the municipal and supervisory claims were properly dismissed for inadequate factual pleading.


Dougherty v. City of Covina, 654 F.3d 892 (9th Cir. 2011)