In what circumstances will a police officer be found guilty of fabricating inculpatory evidence in a police lineup?

In Dufort , the due process claimant asserted that police officers had denied him a fair criminal trial "by fabricating inculpatory evidence through an inappropriately suggestive lineup," id . at 347 ; at his criminal trial, however, the lineup witness stated the true, limited nature of her identification, and we affirmed the district court's dismissal of the fair-trial claim "as a matter of law" because the plaintiff had "not proved that the evidentiary record at his criminal trial was unfairly distorted," id . "Mere attempts to withhold or falsify evidence cannot form the basis for a 1983 claim for a violation of the right to due process when those attempts have no impact on the conduct of a criminal trial." Id . at 355 (citing Zahrey v. Coffey , 221 F.3d 342, 348-50 (2d Cir. 2000) (" Zahrey ")).

In the present case, the majority expressly "[c]oncede[s]" that

[980 F.3d 259]