From April through September, 2013, Desiree Martinez (and her daughter) lived with a City of Clovis police officer by the name of Kyle Pennington in a tumultuous, abusive, live-in relationship.  Specifically, on May 2, 2013, Pennington abused Martinez while the two of them were at Martinez’s cousin’s home.  Other than Martinez being pushed down a flight of stairs, the details of the incident were left unexplained by the Court.  Martinez fled her cousin’s house, hiding outside while calling the police, sending Clovis P.D. officers to the residence she shared with Pennington.  Pennington returned home by himself as Martinez sought the assistance of a taxicab.  Clovis Police Officers and Pennington were all waiting for her when she got home shortly thereafter.  Upon her arrival in the taxi, Pennington approached her and warned her not to say anything to the officers about what had happened at her cousin’s house.  What happened next is subject to some differences of opinion.  Officer Kristina Hershberger described in later testimony a “highly intoxicated” and somewhat uncooperative Martinez who only wished to talk about a prior act of abuse between Pennington and herself, but then refused to repeat the story on a tape recorder.  When pressed for details, Martinez would only say that she was fine, and asked to be allowed to go inside.  Apparently, there were no visible physical indications that Martinez had been injured in any way.  Martinez, on the other hand, testified about her fear of talking to the officer “within eye and earshot” of Pennington.  She claimed in her testimony that she only pretended to be intoxicated because she was afraid of Pennington and did not want him to know that she was complaining to the officers about his abuse.  Martinez also testified that she refused to talk to a least one of the officers at the scene because she knew him to be personal friends with Pennington.  Martinez also testified that Pennington, standing nearby, was staring at her in a manner she perceived as intimidating.  At one point, Martinez heard Pennington clear his throat, noting that he would do this when angry.  Martinez admitted to eventually walking up to Pennington and standing next to him, but only “because (she) didn’t want him to think that (she) was talking to the officer.”  Because Officer Hershberger insisted on interviewing her in front of Pennington, Martinez testified that it was only out of fear that she finally told the officer that nothing had happened.  Later evidence introduced in the federal district court showed that Officer Hershberger had received domestic violence training. Based upon this training, she believed that Martinez faced a potential risk of further abuse if she stayed with Pennington that night. She was also well aware that domestic violence victims “might tend to recant accusations of violence” out of fear of reprisal.  Nevertheless, Officer Hershberger did not arrest Pennington.  Nor did she advise Martinez of her right to make a citizen’s arrest (in violation of P.C. § 836(b)), obtain a restraining order, or of the availability of shelters at which she could stay the night.  She also did not provide Martinez with an available Clovis P.D. pamphlet for victims of domestic violence.  Officer Hershberger later testified that her failure to follow through with any of these basic procedures was because Martinez had not indicated that any violence had occurred that evening (a claim contested by Martinez), and because she was responding to a “check the welfare” call; not a domestic violence call.  Instead, she merely recommended in her report of the incident that Martinez be contacted later and interviewed again.  There was addition testimony to the effect that they did not socialize and that Officer Hershberger had only a “neutral” opinion of Pennington, having both having worked on the Clovis Police Department for some nine years.  Pennington himself also testified that after Martinez had retreated into the house, Officer Hershberger approached Pennington, telling him about Martinez’s complaint that he had abused her once before, and asked him why he was dating a girl like Desiree Martinez, commenting that “she didn’t think that she was necessarily a good fit for (him).”  After the officers left, Pennington physically beat Martinez again as he demanded to know what she had told the officers.  Despite this continued abuse, Martinez spoke with a detective over the phone the next day, telling him in a statement—one she later claimed in testimony to have been scripted by Pennington—that anything she might have said to Officer Hershberger to the effect that she had been abused was in fact false.  At some point within the next month, Martinez and Pennington moved to the nearby City of Sanger, apparently because Pennington was on administrative leave from the Clovis Police Department due to a separate domestic violence incident involving an ex-girlfriend, and he no doubt wished to avoid any further Martinez-generated contacts with his own department.  The abuse, however, continued.  On the night of June 4th, Pennington physically abused Martinez, choking, beating, suffocating, and sexually assaulting her.  Upon a neighbor calling 911, Sanger Police Officer Angela Yambupah and Sgt. Fred Sanders, along with two other officers, arrived at their residence.  This time the officers noticed that Martinez had visible injuries consistent with those of a victim of physical abuse, including redness on one cheek, scrapes on her knees, a broken and bleeding fingernail, a torn shirt, and bruising on her arms.  Martinez told Officer Yambupah that her injuries were the result of Pennington trying to smother her with a pillow and choking her.  Officer Yambupah, who interview Martinez, had received domestic violence training.  She knew Martinez’s injuries were consistent with those of a domestic violence victim and believed she had probable cause to arrest Pennington as the “dominant aggressor,” and intended to do so.  Upon Martinez telling Officer Yambupah that Pennington was a police officer, she discovered that he was on administrative leave from his own police department, and why.  Officer Yambupah “huddled” with the other officers to discuss the situation and the pending arrest.  Sgt. Sanders, who was acting as the on-scene supervisor, overruled her, ordering her to simply refer the matter to the District Attorney’s Office instead.  Although Pennington and Sgt. Sanders were personally unacquainted, there was later evidence that he was friends with Pennington’s father—himself a retired cop—they having known each other for at least 25 years.  Upon leaving the scene, Sgt. Sanders commented out loud, in Pennington’s presence, that the Penningtons were “good people.”  So no arrest was made.  Leaving Martinez and Pennington to their own devices, the officers also failed to provide Martinez with their own department’s domestic violence information handout.  Nor did they inform her of her right to make a citizen’s arrest, offer her transportation to a shelter, or discuss with her the availability of an emergency protective order. When testifying later, Officer Yambupah claimed to have asked Martinez to let her help her, but Martinez refused.  She also claimed to not have sought a protective order because Martinez “was not willing to pursue any assistance from [her] at all.”  And although foreseeing a risk of continued violence, she attempted—unsuccessfully, as it turned out—to address this problem by merely verifying that Pennington intended to leave the scene of his own accord.  But Pennington did not leave the scene.  In fact, after the officers all left, he again—not surprisingly—beat and sexually assaulted Martinez. Pennington was finally arrested the next day and a criminal protective order was issued.  Despite this, however, Martinez and Pennington continued to live together, the abuse unabated, with Martinez suffering continued physical and sexual abuse “multiple times” until September, 2013, after which Martinez finally left him. Pennington was eventually charged and convicted of multiple counts of violating the criminal protective order. He also pled guilty to one domestic violence charge.  Desiree Martinez filed a civil suit in federal court pursuant to 42 U.S.C § 1983, suing both the Clovis and the Sanger Police Departments along with the officers involved in the two incidents described above.  The gist of her complaint was that by failing to take steps to protect her, the officers violated her Fourteenth Amendment right to due process.  Among the allegations was Martinez’s contention that the civil defendant officers violated her right to substantive due process under the so-called “danger doctrine.”  Specifically, she argued that “when a state actor becomes involved and through her (or his) intentional actions worsens the citizen’s situation and creates a danger worse or in addition to those (already) faced by the citizen, that state actor has violated the citizen's substantive due process rights.”  The federal district (trial) court, however, was not persuaded, and granted the civil defendants’ summary judgment motion (i.e., dismissing the case) on all claims.  Martinez appealed.