DENVER (KDVR) — An attorney for the Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a motion to dismiss a case against two agents filed by Barry Morphew in 2023.

Morphew filed a complaint against the district attorney and several other prosecutors in 2023, after claiming allegations of misconduct that led to his arrest in the case of his missing wife, Suzanne Morphew.

According to a motion of dismissal document obtained by FOX31, Morphew sued FBI Special Agents Jonathan Grusing and Kenneth Harris. Morphew is seeking damages from the agents’ personal assets through the U.S. Supreme Court case Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents.

In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could award financial damages in cases where a person’s constitutional rights were violated by the FBI.

Morphew is allegedly invoking the Bivens case as a reason to seek damages. However, the FBI agents’ attorney cited the 2007 Wilkie v. Robbins case and said “…the right to maintain a claim for damages against a federal official under Bivens ‘is not an automatic entitlement . . . and in most instances [the Supreme Court has] found a Bivens remedy unjustified.”

The document claims that Grusing and Harris are immune from personal liability because “Morphew fails to plead nonconclusory facts showing that they violated any clearly established constitutional right.”

For these reasons, the agents’ attorney is asking the court to dismiss the case against them.

Barry Morphew’s arrest

Nearly a year after Suzanne went missing from her Salida home on May 10, 2020, Morphew was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and other charges.

On Sept. 17, 2021, Chief Judge Murphy found probable cause to try Morphew on five felony charges, including First-Degree Murder, Tampering with a Deceased Human Body, Tampering with Physical Evidence, Possession of a Dangerous Weapon, and Attempt to Influence a Public Servant.

However, in April 2022, the district attorney for the 11th Judicial District dismissed the murder charge against Barry Morphew without prejudice.

Morphew files lawsuit against FBI agents

According to the dismissal document, Morphew filed a lawsuit and asserted the following claims against Grusing and Harris:

Count 1: Malicious Prosecution and Unlawful Detention

Count 2: Fabrication of Evidence

Count 3: Franks Claim

Count 4: Conspiracy

Count 6: Failure to Intervene

Count 7: Reckless Investigation

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney Brian M. Boynton filed the motion to dismiss on Jan. 16.