Police whistleblower asks Supreme Court to hear his retaliation case

Police whistleblower Michael Erwine, a Nevada sheriff’s deputy featured in USA TODAY’s “Behind the Blue Wall” investigation, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his civil case against his former employers, Churchill County and its former sheriff. Erwine claims he was wrongly fired and that false statements the sheriff put into his employment file prevented him from being hired by other law enforcement agencies, including the Las Vegas Metro police. Here's what we know:

Who is Mike Erwine?

Erwine, 26, was hired as a jail deputy in 2015 Churchill County, Nevada. He was fired in October 2016 after documenting what he said was abusive behavior against detainees.

What police misconduct did Erwine witness?

In court filings and in a 2021 interview with USA TODAY, Erwine said he saw a sergeant mop up urine and spray it on sleeping inmates. He said another guard told a female prisoner to drop her pants and then watched her urinate.

Erwine said he reached his breaking point in October 2016, 10 months after he joined the sheriff’s department.  

He arrived at the jail to find Andrew Beaulieu bleeding in what was known as the drunk tank – a 4X4 padded cell with a drain in the middle of the floor that served as a toilet. Beaulieu told Erwine that for two hours he’d begged the other deputies for water and they responded by flushing the floor drain to drown out his cries.  

Erwine gave Beaulieu some water and bandaged his bleeding hand, which he had injured before his arrest. Then Erwine checked the security video. He told USA TODAY it confirmed what Beaulieu had described.  

"Maybe it was a culmination of everything I saw there," Erwine said. "I was like, ‘You know what, I'm going to write this down.’" He sat at a computer and composed a memo, planning to present it to department  leaders.  

What is Erwine’s retaliation claim?

Then-Sheriff Benjamin Trotter concluded Erwine had gone outside the chain of command and launched an unauthorized personnel investigation against his co-workers, according to a report Trotter wrote at the time. 

"It is as if Erwine is siding with the inmate against his own agency or, possibly, encouraging civil action against his own agency," Trotter wrote. 

Video:The blue wall of silence in action

Trotter told Erwine he could either resign or be fired.

Trotter’s report also claimed Erwine had threatened a different inmate by unholstering his Taser. In sworn statements, that inmate said he never felt threatened and believed the department had blown the incident out of proportion as a pretext to fire Erwine. "It seems to me like it's a setup," the inmate said, adding that another deputy told him Erwine “got fired because he was a rat."  

What was the sheriff’s response?

In a 2021 interview with USA TODAY, Trotter – by then a justice of the peace – denied Erwine’s account. Trotter said he never tolerated officers covering up for one another and he had an open-door policy for deputies who needed to circumvent the chain of command.  

“I hated and still hate what some of the police issues are with the code of silence,” Trotter said. “I didn’t allow it in my agency.” 

He said Erwine did not present him with evidence of misconduct at the time and he didn’t believe Erwin intended to deliver him the memo about the Beaulieu incident.  

“He was supposedly the bastion of justice,” Trotter said, “and that's just not true." 

Did Erwine get another job?

 Eight Nevada law enforcement agencies –  including his dream location, Las Vegas –  rejected Erwine for jobs because he failed the employment background check, records show. He said no one would tell him why and the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office refused to provide him with a copy of his personnel file. Two years later, Erwine obtained the file and saw that it contained Trotter's report.  

He later was hired by a tribal law enforcement agency that did not have access to his Churchill County employment file, according to court records.

What is Erwine’s legal claim?

Erwine believes the sheriff’s department violated his 14^th Amendment right to due process,  his Supreme Court petition says.

“Sheriff Benjamin Trotter destroyed Mr. Erwine’s reputation and ability to gain employment as a police officer by lodging career destroying accusations at Erwine, without giving Erwine notice or an opportunity to clear his name before the information was placed into his file and published,” the petition says.

It goes on to state: “Police officers cannot be expected to record or report the misconduct of fellow officers if in response they will lose their jobs and have their reputations destroyed by ambush without protection of their basic due process rights by the federal courts.”

What does Erwine want the Supreme Court to do?

Such due process claims are known as “stigma-plus” claims. To satisfy the “stigma” side of the equation, a plaintiff must show that a public employer’s statements  “might seriously damage  standing and association in the community or impose stigma or other disability that forecloses freedom to take advantage of other employment opportunities,” Erwine’s petition states. Lower courts generally agree on that standard.

Watch:A police department says it backs its female officers. The women's voices tell a different story

Erwine wants the Supreme Court to clarify which circumstances qualify as “plus.” Precedent in the Ninth Circuit, where his case was filed, holds that Erwine could only satisfy that standard if he was “effectively excluded from employment in his chosen profession.” Other federal courts of appeal have used a different standard, under which being fired by Churchill County would be enough.

Contact Gina Barton at (262) 757-8640 or gbarton@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @writerbarton.