⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

San Bernardino County asks the Ninth Circuit to overturn a civil-rights award of more than twenty-five million dollars to William Richards. Richards found his wife Pamela dead outside their home after returning from work. He was convicted of her murder in 1997, but California's Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2016 because of false evidence, and he was later found factually innocent. He then sued over the investigation and prosecution and won a civil jury verdict against the county. Two claims concern delayed coroner access that allegedly lost time-of-death evidence, and withheld laboratory notes suggesting another source for a hair beneath Pamela's fingernail. These Monell claims target the county's own policies and training failures, not merely an employee's mistake. Brady requires disclosure of material evidence favorable to a criminal defendant; Youngblood requires bad faith for a constitutional claim over failure to preserve potentially useful evidence. Which rule covers the missed time-of-death evidence is disputed. Rule Fifty allows a judge to reject a jury verdict when the evidence lacks a legally sufficient basis. The parties also dispute whether the county preserved its objections before the verdict. Farbod Moridani, of Miller Barondess, will seek reversal for the county. Ben Shaw, of McLane, Bednarski and Litt, will defend the verdict for Richards.

Richards v. County of San Bernardino, et al. (No. 25-7587) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued September 30, 2026.