On November 24, 2018, Alicia E. Shaffer Stalheim, 25, was murdered by her jealous boyfriend, Luis Rodriguez, seven months after Rodriguez learned Stalheim and her children met for ice cream with another man.
Stalheim, Rodriquez and the other man, Gerry Brooks, were all employees of the Presque Isle Downs & Casino outside of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Stalheim’s estate has sued multiple parties over the murder including casino owner Caesar Entertainment, the race track owner Churchill Downs, and the Pennsylvania State Police. The complaint asserts wrongful death and equal protection claims.
Stalheim alleges that the employers, along with the police, did not do enough to prevent her murder and should be held accountable for negligence for failing to properly investigate Rodriguez, who had a prior conviction, and for letting him keep his job on the Presque Isle property.
The plaintiff contends that if the police had done a background check and brought charges, and the employer had taken action, Rodriguez would have been in prison, back home in Ohio, banned from the Presque Isle property or, for other reasons, been unlikely or unable to act as he did.
The casino/race track owners are seeking to have the claims dismissed. The companies argue that the negligence claim should be dismissed because the murder occurred at a “time and place” completely unrelated to their employment or any conduct by them.
The defendants insist they had no legal duty to prevent the harm done to Stalheim. “Only acts within one’s employment can impose liability on an employer,” they argue.
The claim against the Pennsylvania State Police is that the troopers should have run a routine criminal background check of Rodriguez and filed criminal charges against him, and that their failure to do so violated the equal protection rights of both Brooks and the plaintiff.
The PSP argues that, as a state agency, the PSP cannot be sued for equal protection under federal law. Only persons can be sued and the plaintiffs have not identified the two state troopers involved in the Rodriguez case.
Furthermore, the PSP contends, even if the plaintiffs were able to identify the two troopers, courts have dismissed equal protection claims based on the inadequacy or failure of a police investigation. The PSP says courts have recognized that “there is no constitutional right to the investigation or prosecution of another.”
The case, originally filed in state court, was moved to federal court in western Pennsylvania.
Background
Stalheim and Rodriguez worked with Brooks, a race horse trainer who was returning to Presque Isle for the season. Brooks had suggested he and Stalheim meet to get reacquainted and discuss the upcoming racing season. That was why they met for ice cream in May.
Although there was no romantic relationship between Brooks and Stalheim, hours after the ice cream incident, a jealous Rodriguez sent death threat texts to Brooks. His texts included a “selfie” photo of him with a gun standing in front of the condominium where Brooke lived. Brooks brought the death threats to the attention of his employer and demanded the race track fire Rodriguez.
The company arranged for Brooks to meet with the state police. After speaking with Rodriguez, the police declined to press charges and deemed the matter resolved. The race track subsequently informed Brooks that it could not fire Rodriguez or ban him from the casino because the police did not file criminal charges.
Then, seven months later, in November 2018, Stalheim was gunned-down and murdered. Rodriguez was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In the seven months between Rodriguez’s threats to Brooks and Stalheim’s murder, the employer says there were no allegations of any additional threats made by Rodriguez to Brooks, Stalheim or anyone else.
According to the plaintiff, Rodriguez had been previously convicted of a felony gun charge in Ohio, making him ineligible to own a firearm in Pennsylvania.
Police said Rodriguez admitted he was drunk when he texted Brooks and promised to never do it again. The police said they did not confiscate the gun. According to the lawsuit, the police also demanded that Brooks delete the text messages from Rodriguez, which eventually he did, knowing he had sent the messages to others.
Topics Law Enforcement Pennsylvania
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