On July 25, 2014, plaintiff Ethan Morse, 18, was arrested for murder in connection with a gang shooting that resulted in the deaths of three teenagers at a party in Atwater on March 30, 2013. The victims — Samantha Parreira, 16, Bernabed Hernandez-Canela, 18, and Matthew Fisher, 19, — were killed at a house party in the 9200 block of Westside Boulevard, near Atwater, the night before Easter Sunday. Prior to his arrest, Ethan, then 16, took his father’s sports utility vehicle without permission and drove seven friends and acquaintances to the house party in Atwater, which was advertised on social media. Ethan admitted that he knew one of his passengers, Jacob Logan-Tellez, was affiliated with Norteno gang members and had brought a .22-caliber revolver with him to the party. While allegedly sitting in the SUV outside the party, gunfire erupted. Samantha and Matthew were fatally shot in the backyard. Bernabed was killed out front. The shootings appeared to be related to a dispute between Sureno and Blood gang members. (Matthew was a Blood gang member and Bernabed was a Sureno gang member.) Ethan and his passengers drove away unscathed. Shortly after the killings, Jacob accidentally called 911 on his cell phone. According to detectives, the 911 call had implicated Jacob in the killing of Bernabed. As a result, a short time later, Jacob was arrested and brought in for questioning. After cooperating with police, Jacob was released after the then-lead detective, Dwayne Pavelski, said the 911 call was difficult to understand and that there was insufficient evidence to book Jacob on murder charges. The triple murder was a cold case when Charles “Chuck” Hale was promoted to sergeant of the sheriff’s department’s major crimes unit in July 2014. Hale asserted that on July 14, 2017, he told Erick Macias, a sheriff’s detective, to dig into the unsolved triple homicide. Three days later, the sheriff’s department held a press conference and announced the arrest of Jose Carballido and Jose Botello in the killings of Samantha and Matthew, and the arrest of Jacob in the killing of Bernabed. Several eyewitnesses implicated Carballido and Botello, while Hale asserted that Jacob’s arrest was based solely on his 911 call and his videotaped interview with Pavelski. A couple of days later, on July 25, 2014, Ethan was arrested in connection with the gang shooting at the party. Ethan was eventually released from jail in November 2014, when Judge Ronald Hansen declared him factually innocent of the murder charge. Hansen freed Ethan after making several factual findings, including that Jacob did not fire a gun from Ethan’s vehicle and that Jacob did not fire the weapon that killed Bernabed in March 2013. Carballido and Botello were later convicted and sentenced to prison. Bernabed’s killing remains unsolved. Ethan sued the police sergeant who authorized his arrest, Hale; Sheriff’s Detectives Macias and Jose Sanchez; and the officers’ employer, the county of Merced. The Merced County Sheriff’s Department was later added as a defendant. Ethan alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted violations of his civil rights by maliciously or recklessly lying to a judge to get a warrant for his arrest (judicial deception). He also alleged that the defendants’ actions constituted violations of his civil rights by falsely arresting him, maliciously prosecuting him, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. Plaintiff’s counsel contended Bernabed’s murder remains unsolved because the defendants continue to refuse to admit that they were wrong about Jacob. Ethan claimed that after he came forward and told the defendants that he knew that Jacob was innocent, the defendants set out to confirm their arrest and implicate him, rather than investigate the real killers. He claimed that in doing so, the defendants ignored the physical evidence that made it impossible for Jacob to have killed Bernabed, including the autopsy report and ballistic testing, which showed that Bernabed was shot with a .25-caliber firearm once in the head at close range and with a .38-caliber firearm in his chest several times, even though Ethan and his passengers had all told detectives that Jacob had a .22-caliber revolver and that Jacob did not fire it from the SUV. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the detectives badgered, threatened with arrest, and coerced three of the six passengers in the car to say that it was possible that a gun was fired from the car. Counsel also argued that the defendants misrepresented evidence to the state prosecutor that took over the case because Ethan’s father was the District Attorney of Merced County. Plaintiff’s counsel also noted that Hale admitted on the witness stand that he never met with the state prosecutor, Barton Bowers, before Ethan’s arrest nor did he go over the evidence in detail with Bowers. Hale also conceded that Bowers only had the case for two days before Ethan was arrested, but claimed that Bowers was the one who made the decision to arrest Ethan. In response, Bowers testified that the decision to arrest Ethan was made during a telephone call with the sheriff’s department, but that he did not recall being the one to make that decision. Plaintiff’s counsel also argued that there were several misrepresentations and material omissions from the arrest warrant and that the defendants intentionally misled a judge into signing the warrant. Plaintiff’s counsel further argued that the defendants ignored evidence that implicated someone else in the murder of Bernabed. In addition, plaintiff’s counsel contended that Macias had interviewed a man who claimed to have information about the murder that the detectives had already linked to Ethan, but that even though Macias interviewed the informant in June 2014, Macias did not write a report about the interview until after a judge declared Ethan innocent. Counsel noted that a confidential informant later told a detective with the Merced Police Department that a man had confessed to the murder of Bernabed and that when the detective passed the information on to Hale, Hale’s alleged response was, “What? Is [Ethan’s father] buying you lunch?,” referring to the District Attorney. Hale, Macias and Sanchez all testified that they had probable cause to arrest Ethan because Ethan was the driver of the vehicle from which Jacob allegedly shot a firearm that killed Bernabed. Defense counsel for Hale and the county contended that Jacob never turned over his gun to the detectives and that Ethan was reluctant to turn over the contact information of his passengers. Counsel also contended that Ethan and his passengers got together to concoct a similar story to tell law enforcement. Defense counsel contended that Bowers, of the state Attorney General’s Office, took over the case after Ethan’s father declared an obvious conflict. Counsel also contended that Bowers made the decision to arrest Ethan after being briefed by Hale and that Bowers, independently, made the decision to file a murder charge against Ethan. Defense counsel further contended that over several months, Bowers reviewed the evidence in preparation for Ethan’s preliminary hearing and during that time, Bowers continued to prosecute the case and never voiced any criticism of the evidence or of the detectives., Ethan Morse spent nearly 114 days at Mariposa County Jail. He testified that he was getting ready to head to a Baptist college, in Arkansas, on a wrestling scholarship before he was arrested in July 2014. He claimed that as a result of his arrest, he missed his first semester of college and his grandfather’s funeral. Ethan testified that while he was in jail, his grandfather had written him letters and that he was always on high alert, worried that he might be raped or assaulted. He also noted that, at one point, his cellmate was a gang member. Ethan claimed that when the judge declared him innocent, and ordered his release from jail, he was happy, but in a state of shock. He testified that he thought people would find out that he was innocent and that he could return to his life before his arrest, but on social media, he was called a murderer and accused of having his father pull strings to get him off. Ethan eventually attended one semester at the college in Arkansas, but he claimed acquaintances there learned of his link to the triple murder and ostracized him. He then attended Sacramento City College for one semester in the fall of 2015, but his dream of being a college wrestler ended when he hurt his back. In late 2015, Ethan returned to Merced. In May 2016, at the age of 19, he became a father to a daughter. Ethan testified that he no longer goes to parties or hangs out with friends. He claimed that strangers often stop him in stores and asked him if he did it and that he’s always worried that someone might try to avenge Bernabed’s killing by “whacking” him. Thus, Ethan claimed he suffers from severe emotional distress and damage to his reputation as a result of his wrongful imprisonment. He sought recovery of non-economic damages for his emotional distress, as well as recovery of economic damages, which included attorneys’ fees, and investigation and expert costs. Although Ethan had not yet sought therapy, the plaintiff’s psychology expert testified that Ethan was coming around to the idea. The expert also opined that Ethan should seek weekly therapy with an experienced therapist for at least two years, which would end up costing $14,300.