Appeals Court revives former Roxboro officer’s challenge to NC Giglio law

The North Carolina Court of Appeals will allow a former Roxboro police officer to move forward with his lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s 2021 Giglio law. Wednesday’s ruling reverses a trial judge’s decision to dismiss SeanPatrick Leech’s lawsuit.

North Carolina’s law stems from the 1972 US Supreme Court precedent in Giglio v. United States. It requires prosecutors to produce a “Giglio letter” to defense attorneys explaining that a law enforcement officer might lack credibility when testifying in a case.

The state law “requires anyone who has received a Giglio letter notifying them that they may not be called to testify to provide a copy of that notification to the Criminal Justice Standards Division (‘CJSD’) to be entered into its database,” Judge April Wood wrote for a unanimous three-judge appellate panel. “Additionally, if any officer in the Giglio Statute’s database seeks to transfer his or her certification to another law enforcement agency, the Statute directs the CJSD to republish the Giglio determination to the officer’s new agency head and either the local elected district attorney or, if the new agency is a state agency, to every elected district attorney in the State.”

An officer has the right to a review hearing “for the sole purpose of determining whether he or she had actually been issued a Giglio letter,” Wood explained. The law “does not allow for a review of the letter’s allegations to determine whether the allegations support the publication of the letter.”

Leech’s legal problems started in 2021. He was called to the home of an alleged rape victim who found a boxcutter in her bedroom days after returning to the scene of the alleged attack.

“Multiple times the victim denied the boxcutter was used during the alleged rape and stated she did not know from where the boxcutter came,” Wood wrote. Leech said he called his supervisor and talked to the officer who responded to the rape to ensure that the boxcutter was not evidence in the case.

“Having confirmed that a boxcutter was not used during the alleged rape nor listed as evidence, Plaintiff disposed of it,” Wood wrote. “Plaintiff did not knowingly dispose of evidence.”

About a week later, the district attorney’s office contacted Roxboro police seeking photos of the boxcutter. Leech “immediately explained the situation and his disposal of the boxcutter,” Wood wrote.

Leech cooperated with an internal affairs investigation. Yet DA Michael Waters sent him a Giglio letter in September 2021 “which stated the DA’s office would ‘no longer be able to use [Plaintiff] as a witness for the State of North Carolina in any criminal or traffic case,’” the Appeals Court opinion explained. The letter cited “dishonesty” regarding Leech’s conversations with his supervisor about the boxcutter.

“This assertion of dishonesty conflicted with the findings of the internal affairs investigation which determined only ‘that there was an inconsistency in [Plaintiff’s] and [Sergeant’s] statement[s],’” Wood wrote.

The Giglio letter prompted the Roxboro Police Department to warn Leech that he could resign or be fired. Leech resigned. The warning arrived four days before the state Giglio law took effect in October 2021.

A 2023 hearing before a committee of the Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission “found no probable cause to support either of the accusations in the Giglio letter,” Wood wrote. “[H]owever, neither the Probable Cause Committee nor the CJSC have the authority to withdraw or rescind the Giglio letter or to remove Plaintiff from the CJSD database.”

Leech asked Waters to withdraw the Giglio letter “considering the independent investigation and hearing.” Waters rejected the request in April 2023.

Two months later, Leech filed suit against Waters and challenged the constitutionality of the Giglio law. A trial judge dismissed the case in June 2024.

“Plaintiff contends the trial court erred when it (1) allowed Defendant Waters to submit evidence outside the pleadings including an affidavit and two letters, (2) did not respond to Plaintiff’s Motion to Strike the evidence, and (3) utilized the evidence in its findings of fact when ruling on the Motion to Dismiss without providing a reasonable opportunity for Plaintiff to respond. … We agree,” Wood wrote.

“Because the trial court allowed material clearly outside of the original pleadings, the 12(b)(6) motion was converted to a motion for summary judgment,” she explained. “The trial court failed to respond to Plaintiff’s Objection and Motion to Strike and did not allow Plaintiff time or opportunity to rebut the evidence presented outside the pleadings. Thus, the trial court erred.”

The case returns to a trial judge.

Wood noted that Leech’s claims might also proceed to a three-judge panel. Part of his complaint involves a facial challenge to the Giglio law’s constitutionality.

“Plaintiff contends that law enforcement officers are denied any due process protections including notice or hearing prior to being listed in the Giglio database based on vague and subjective standards,” Wood wrote.

“When a sufficient facial claim is clearly alleged, the trial court, in compliance with N.C. Gen. Stat. §1-267.1, must resolve all matters not ‘contingent upon the outcome of the challenge to the act’s facial validity’ and then transfer the case to a three-judge panel in the Superior Court of Wake County,” she explained.

Chief Judge Chris Dillon and Judge Jefferson Griffin joined Wood’s decision.