Jason Carter, who claimed that detectives had violated his rights prior to his arrest on a 2015 murder accusation against his mother Shirley, lost his appeal.
Following the incident at the family’s rural farm house, Carter was eventually found not guilty of the criminal charges; nevertheless, a civil trial that took place before the criminal trial found him responsible for her death. Carter’s father and brother launched a $10 million lawsuit, which led to the civil trial. After two separate appeals, the federal case remained pending until a court dismissed the allegations last year, but the Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the civil trial verdict and dismissed the state complaint against investigators.
The United States Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the 2024 ruling in its most recent decision, which was issued on June 12. Carter alleges that during the civil suit’s litigation, investigators purposefully and willfully withheld important exonerating evidence from him. Carter also claims that a substantive violation of due process under the Fourteenth Amendment results from investigators’ inadequate investigation, shocking the conscience.
Judge Bobby Shepherd considered the appeal and concluded in his final opinion that the district court had made no mistakes regarding the federal lawsuit’s verdict. The full judge’s opinion on the decision can be seen here.
