Richmond police asst. chief sues prosecutor, alleges defamation in ‘public spat’
Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Shipman and Richmond Police Department Assistant Chief Adam Blanton.
Adam Blanton, assistant police chief for the Richmond Police Department, has filed a civil lawsuit against Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Shipman over his inclusion on Shipman’s Brady/Giglio list.
Filed Wednesday afternoon in Wayne Circuit Court, Blanton alleges that Shipman exceeded and abused his authority by “unjustly branding a decorated assistant chief of police with a professional scarlet letter” via his placement on the list and then making his inclusion on the list public by alerting the media.
What is a Brady/Giglio list?
A Brady/Giglio list, which Blanton called in his lawsuit “a designation reserved for officers deemed untrustworthy to testify in court,” is created primarily by prosecutors or police departments to list names of law enforcement officers who have “sustained incidents of untruthfulness, criminal convictions, candor issues or some other type of issue placing their credibility into question,” according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The idea of such a list comes from two U.S. Supreme Court cases: Brady V. Maryland (1963) and Giglio v. United States (1972).
In the Brady case, the court held that the government has a duty to disclose material and exculpatory evidence and that failure to do so violates due process as stated in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In the Giglio case, the court held that prosecutors must disclose any evidence, helpful or harmful, that could call into question the credibility of a witness testifying in a trial, because failing to do so also violates a defendant’s due process.
Why was Blanton placed on the list?
In a letter Shipman sent to RPD Chief Kyle Weatherly on Oct. 9, Shipman listed three reasons for Blanton’s placement on the list.
The first, Shipman said, was a statement Blanton made on RPD’s Facebook page on Sept. 24 that said two people found dead in the St. Mary’s River in Fort Wayne were not RPD informants, which Shipman said was factually inaccurate.
The second reason behind Blanton’s placement on the Brady/Giglio list, according to the letter, was because of an interview Blanton gave the Palladium-Item for a story about a YouTube prankster duct-taping himself to a telephone pole.
Blanton had told the Palladium-Item that the prosecutor’s office did not elect to file charges on the prankster. But Shipman said later that he did not receive a police report for the incident until two weeks after the Palladium-Item story was published.
The third reason Shipman cited in the letter for Blanton being put on the list was because a Palladium-Item reporter said Blanton gave Shipman’s phone number to the reporter.
What are Blanton’s allegations?
Blanton argues in his complaint that Shipman and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office have tarnished his reputation without due process and “undermined the integrity of inter-agency cooperation” by retaliating against him.
Blanton also alleges that on Nov. 15, Shipman and his office sent the Brady/Giglio list to all Wayne County law enforcement agencies, despite Blanton being employed only by the Richmond Police Department and disclosure of the list did not relate to any prosecutor’s office cases.
As a result, Blanton alleges that Shipman disclosed Blanton’s inclusion on the list as a sole means to embarrass him, going as far as to leak the list to the press and personally attach the list in Facebook disputes with third parties.
In another instance, Blanton provides an exhibit in which Shipman allegedly sent an email to Cambridge City police officer Dillon Pitcher, saying he will not file charges in his cases as a result of his association with Blanton and his alleged access in November to a call for service number from January 2024 involving Shipman’s girlfriend.
“Shipman’s email is further evidence of a single-minded personal vendetta against Blanton and is troubling,” the lawsuit says. “The Pitcher email is further evidence Defendants’ ongoing use of the Brady/Giglio list is unrelated to legitimate WCPO work but, rather, is a cudgel used by them in an increasingly public spat with Blanton.”
In total, Blanton alleges five counts against Shipman and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in violation of his 14th Amendment rights:
