Spreadbury v. Bitterroot Public Library et al

Filing 111

AFFIDAVIT in Support re 108 MOTION for Summary Judgment DEFENDANT LEE ENTERPRISES INC'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON REMAINING COUNTS FOUNDATIONAL AFFIDAVIT OF JEFFREY B SMITH IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT LEE ENTERPRISES INC'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON REMAINING COUNTS filed by Lee Enterprises Incorporated. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H, # 9 Exhibit I, # 10 Exhibit J) (Smith, Jeffrey)

EX}IIBIT E

JUDIClAL

MONTANA TWENTY.FIRST

1

RAVALLI

2

DI STR CT

COUNTY

3
4

MICHAEL E.

S

t-ov
l_i- u

PREADBURY,
h1^.r-ri€a
rIdIlrLr!r,

5

Cause

6
1

KENNETH

S

No

DV-10-223

|

BELL,

Defendant

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n at the Ravalll Countv Courtho
Bedford Street. Hamifton, Mont
Fr j.day, August 6, 2Ol0

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The Honorable Jeffrey

Langton

H

Pre

s

idi ng.

I4
TRANSCRIPT OP

|:l

PROCEE

D

] NGS

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APPEARANCES:

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Plaj-ntiff,

Michael E.

Sp r ea dbu

ry,

.nha.ri

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For the DefendanE3

NATASHA PRINZ]NG JONES

201 West Main Street,

Missoula,

MT 59802

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Taruny Stuckey

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DAY, AUGUST 5

2OTI

THE COURT: Very b,eIl. I the maLter is deemed

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submi

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The Court wil,l issue a written

ed

rulino.

There's a second case involving different
counseL. That's Spreadbu ry v. Be).f , DV -lo-223. Miss
Jones is here on behalf of Mr. Bel1, and Mr. Spreadbury
again pro se. This is a 12(b) (6) notion on dismissal on
such a motion, whi]e argurnent is not required the way 1t
1s requi-red on summary judgment motion, I f el-t it

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appropriate in this case to hear IegaI argumenE. we'Il
f oL.Low the satne format as we just utilized;
again, the
moving party goes first, the party opposing is in the

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middLe and the moving party with the burden closes.

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Miss Jones.

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MS. JONES: Thank vou, Your Honor. And I'11

be brief.

I don't think that there's much that I can
add to the briefing on this issue. I would simply
hi ohl i.'hf thi q: That this iS a motion to dismiss and so
we are bound to the record. However, I provided the

Court with the authority that aIl-ows the Court to ta ke
judicial notice of related proceedings. And those
rel-ated proceedings, of course, are the criminaL cases
involving the same person, Mr. Spreadbury. And so this
is re]evant because Mr. SDreadburv has tried to view
Lth.l-

Mr

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Tammy

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Stuckey *" 375-6783

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order hearing was in a vacuum. And the Court, of
course, can take judicial notice, in the context of

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proceedings because NanSu Roddy, who vras moving for the
protective order at thar time, was also a key wiLness in

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a r:riminel

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victi-m of a crime that was under investiqation with !he

a

motion to dismiss, of the related proceedings so that h,e
have context for his roLe there. And it becomes clear
that his role there ,,ras related to the criminal-

mall

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incimidarion charge tha! was subsequently filed against
Mr. Spreadbury for t.he exact conduct that was at issue
in the order of Drotection hearinq. And for those

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reasons, of course, it was absoLutely appropriate for

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l ! respass case,
Then, of cou rse.

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leave it to the br.ief s on
immunity, as that's been the issue of multiple legal
briefs by Mr. Spreadbury and mysel.f , as weLl- as in
related cases on that issue, so I donrt think I can add
ann i ee

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THE COURT: Thank vou
Taruny

Stuckey

Mr.

375 6783

Sp

readbury

MR. SPREADBURy: yes, your Honor, Thank

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you. If it pleases the Court, I just have a few
comments. We can say all we want to that Ken Bell was
acting within his authority and there' s aII the se
criminal" charges. We11, if you think that sitting on a
public park owned by the City of Hamilron in a public
place with, I don't know what you'd call it, liberty,
freedom of access, definitely freedom of assembLy, which
is 1n both constitutions of the flags on either side of
you, and rf you think asking a librarian for help is a
felony, then. you know, 1et's talk about. the criminal
mat ce r.

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In fact, Ken BeIl ,,ras in a civil proceeding
Iike we are right now and there was no criminal stuff
going on. I hate to use the word "stuff ." But it'S
very clear in MCA 7-4-4604, which are the duties of a

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city attorney.

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even entering a ci vi 1 courtroom l-i ke we'.re he.re right

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now. None of those duties.

Thev are -- the duties are

to prosecutor for the city,

to draft ordinances for the

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city,

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and I have that in

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include

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and do whatever other services that the City

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None of them listed.

, upon a vote, deems !he city at Lorney shouLd

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Tanmv Stuckev

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Irm going to 90 on to the confllct of
interest that Mr. Be11 engaged in, He sat in a criminaL
courtroom, as f was be j.ng arraigned, as a sLand-in
prosecutor on November 10th in Just j.ce Clute,s
courtroom, and then on November 20th he r^ras in this

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aforementioned civil

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hearing on behalf of Nansu Roddy,
nhich she is not a city emp.loyee. She is an empl-oyee of
the Bitterroot Public Library, which is an i ndependent

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So he prosecuted one party ten days prior,

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in to, I guess yourd call it defended or represented
non-city business on November 2}Lh, 2009, in Mun j-cipal
Court in Hami"lton, Just as a Iayman, that appears to

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me -- oh, and Lhen we have the sitting

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disf
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tha

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if you act ourside of the dut i es, that's

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requirements for emotional distress

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and then

came

on the Iibrary

so Ken BelI acted outside of the duties,

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I bel-ieve there was a date sometime
in November. I canrt quite remember, but he was al_so
the prosecutor on that case. The tria.I , r knov,, was
Eebruary 18, 2070. November -- j_t doesn' t matter, so

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Iawn prosecution,

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errs

one of the

is to be outrageous.

outrageous for Ken BeII to be in a civil"
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courtroom

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So rhat's one of the requirements f or emotional distress

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a wel l-establ. ished fact that
prosecutors have no immunity in civil courtroons.

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Mr. Corn is sitting

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conflict

of

interest,
It's

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right here, He has no imnunity in
this civil courtroom. Hers the prosecutor for Ravalli
County. If he were to say something to me or anythi.ng
eIse, that could be used as defamaCion. That could be

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used as misrepresentation.

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deputies could say, which they have, if this were
anybody else but Mike Spreadbury, we would have dropped
t.his case. So r"rhen they say something like that, they
only have qualified imrnunity, if anything. So there's
cerLa j.n stages of immunity. And in a civil courtroom,

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that Ehere is a burden of proof, And respectfully, I,m
getting from the defense counsel that. it,s j ust in her
pleadings, thaE there is immunit.y, I don,t see any

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burden there,

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in a civil

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You know, one of his

there's no immunity. So Ken Bell, it's a
we 1I -establ i shed fact and observedr in a civil
cou rt room, no j-rnnunity.
The other thing I,11 9et into is the fact

I donrt see any proof !hat, okay, he was
courtroom, here,s how he has imrnurlity right
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there in that courtroon. If hers outside of his duties
and hers also in a civil courtroom, he's lost in space,
Your Honor. He has no immunitv.
Aqain,

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10: 15:

Smi

til on behalf of Srdith Butte-Si-lver

Bow, L994, 'rProsecutorial immunity does not shield
nr,-rqF.rrf nr f rnm r-ivi l 'l iehi'l itv for
"ll faCtSi Or
:

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omisslons.'r

Def

inite!,y

with probab.Ie cause hiere -- I ,m
i

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st;rndinn

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t.o charge me with !respassing today. I don't

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I don't know, But if
there's no probable cause. immuniLy sLops dead, Just

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stops.

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w

ve\/ha

Mr.

Be

1I hrould

Ii ke

It

know.

would be another year of fun,

And in a situation where BeII is in

)to,tarzo

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and what she did with -- sworn to a j udge.

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lot of things going on here where the.re's

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improprieties. I've already asked for official
misconduct of Mr. Bell to thi s Court. I don't get
answer. I have ln the docket because I believe it

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happened.

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a

20th hearing for an order of protection, t.here
is an argument tha! could be made that there,s no
p.robable cause for that because there is already
indiscrepancies (sic) with the testimony of tlhe
November

I'Il

sonte

an

kind of end with the fact that there is
Taruny Stuckey

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375-5783

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no criminal case invol
^

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case involving this

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r-o sncak to f l.e fact

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There was no danger at

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Nov ember

2oth, 2009 was

as not allow ed to speFk. I
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w

was

advised by my counsel, w ho had j ust showed up at that
time that he wasn't prep ared, We ha ve another criminal

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here.

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incident.

same

So f wasnl't aILowed

there

no danger involved.

tha t

iS

a

nO

was

So this wasn I t a cr imina I

ll.

t a crlme

on

public pFoperty if

t^
fha
re sitting peacefull y drru rL r
public. And I'11 just e nd with the fact that this is
probabl y the ea s iest dec ision to nak e because I Ken Be.l" ]

you

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tn
was in a civil courtroon . Therers n a imm.nitr,
prosecutors, Your Honor r in a civi.I courtroom. It

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dneqn

v

It

arPt

anw

/- t paI.ef

than that

.

And I'd It,ke to
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I

respect the Court and f hope we move forward'luitn

tiri"

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eqqirrned

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this because I feel strongly that the j.mmunity is

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something that 1sn't assigned in a civil- courEroom and

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it should be established in this court, And I thank vou
for vour t ine.
THE COURT:
Very welI, Miss Jone s you may

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conclude

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If there is immunity assigned or dlsmissaL
Tlm.1rrin.r

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ask

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JONES: I've al-readv bri.ef ed the scope
Taruny Stuckey

**

375-6783

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of the duties of the city attorney, which includes
appearancee in c j-viI mat!ers. There is no limitation

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inh,,^;r-r,

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tha
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crirninal matters. There is no case or stafuLt tnat says
that, This was a city bustness case because fhe moving
parLy for Lhe protect j-ve order was the vicLim of a crirne
and was a key witness in another crime, and sQ it was
i

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^IFA-tv

relatF.l

And pg can ltake

t.) .-i t-r' hrrs i neqc

it

as

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hic

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that

She wasn,!

a city

-l employee.
I

9ie

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can take a]1 of hls allegaLions as true,

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remrinq

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proceedings, that Mr. Bell $ras acting in his scope

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city attorney; that he was entitled to -- is entitl-ed to
immunity for his acLions in that regard. Thank you,

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natter is deemed submitted,
The Court will issue a written rul-inq in that matter,

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thet-

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elated

THE COURT: The

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Tanmy Stuckey

**

Thelfact

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CERTIFICATE

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STATE OE MONTANA
COUNT Y

OE RAVALL I

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I, Tanara Stuc key, Official Caurt Repo ter for
the State of Mon!ana, rln harahrr na rf i f rr.
th6
-- --' did on^riThat I was duI y auLrr(J!
h.^^66^i
in
thc
2[ ove-enti-tled cause;
^^c
That. the f oreg oj-ng pages of th j.s trans
constitute a true and accurate transcription
ct-ah^l

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n/\f

ac

I further cert 1ry cnar I am noE an ac! rney, nor
n6r a ralative
:nw
ihe narf ipq
^f
enployee of any attor ney or counsel connected with the
action, nor financia I Iy interested in the act
^^r)nqa I nf

IN WITNESS 9{HE REOF, I have hereunLo set my hand
on this 2nd day of Se pt ember, 2 01 1 .

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ara s tuc J(e v
off icial Co ur t Repo rt EI
Sta te of Mo n! a n a
hi
Twe nl-rr-I' irs r J u dicial

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Tammy

Stuckey ** 375-6783