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Okay for Prosecutor to Ask Defendant’s Daughter to Elicit Confession by The assistant district attorney arranged for a criminal defendant's daughter to visit his cell in the absence of his counsel and urge him to confess. The ADA could reasonably have believed that his conduct was not illegal, since prior …
8th Circuit Upholds Dismissal of False Imprisonment Action by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendants on a false imprisonment claim. On January 2, 1983, James Buckley was murdered in St. Louis, Missouri. Ellen Maria Reasonover came forward as a witness …
Article • May 15, 2007
Sixth Circuit Permits Bivens action Against BOP for IAD Violation by The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a federal prisoner in custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) could maintain a Bivens action against the BOP Director for failing to dismiss a detainer after the receiving jurisdiction …
Prosecutors Immune for Seizing Arrestees Prosthetic Leg by The plaintiff was arrested. His leg prosthesis was confiscated as evidence (it had a bullet hole in it). The prosecutor refused to return it. At trial, both parties used the prosthesis as evidence. The judge declined to order the prosthesis returned after …
AZ Prisoner's 1983 Action against Judge and Prosecutor Barred By Absolute Immunity by AZ Prisoner's 1983 Action against Judge and Prosecutor Barred By Absolute Immunity Kenneth Ashelman, an Arizona state pretrial detainee, filed suit against the judge and prosecutor in his criminal prosecution, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in …
County Prosecutors Acting Outside Their Authority Lose Absolute Immunity by In this somewhat confusing opinion, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that county prosecutors, defendants in a civil, rights lawsuit brought by two men who were falsely arrested, were not entitled to absolute immunity on numerous claims, including …
Article • May 15, 2007
District Attorney Must Pay $50,001 Damages; Seized Property Illegally Held by The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a $50,001 damages award against a Pennsylvania district attorney who illegally retained an arrestee's property. Frederick A. Brilla sued Washington County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney John Pettit under 42 U.S.C. §1983, claiming …
Article • May 15, 2007
Nominal Damages Verdict Against Nevada Police Upheld by The plaintiff was arrested, but the district attorney declined to prosecute. The plaintiff then filed an excessive force complaint. The officer accused of excessive force notified the district attorney's office, which then filed misdemeanor battery charges against her. The court affirms a …
Compensating the Wrongly Convicted, or Not by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke Hundreds of thousands of men and women are hidden from society—social failures convicted of felonies—behind concrete walls and razor wire in isolated parts of our country. Nestled among them are society's silenced victims—the wrongfully convicted. Society is …
Parole Officer Recommendation Not Protected by Absolute Immunity by Parole Officer Recommendation Not Protected by Absolute Immunity The court of appeals for the second circuit held a parole officer who recommended that a warrant be issued for a parolee's arrest was not entitled to absolute imunity. John Scotto, a felony …
Cases of Interest From the U.S. Supreme Court's 1997-98 Term by Forfeitures: In a federal criminal case the supreme court held that the Excessive Fines clause of the Eighth amendment prohibits "grossly disproportionate" forfeitures of funds. The court held that forfeitures are "fines'' if they are punishment for a crime. …
County Liable for Trustee's Work; No Remedy for Illegal Detention by The court of appeals for the fifth circuit held that a county was properly liable where it did not reimburse a jail detainee for work he performed on public property. The court also held that a pretrial detainee's work …
Pro Se Tips and Tactics by John Midgley In the June issue of PLN, I discussed the defense of so-called "qualified immunity" that is available to public officers and employees sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This companion column discusses the other kind of immunity you may run into, so-called …
DA Liable for Preventing Court Appearance by Tobin Lemmons is an Oklahoma state prisoner. While in jail he filed a workers compensation complaint against his former employers with the aid of an attorney and law firm he hired for this purpose. On two occasions in 1991 the state judge before …
Attorney General Subject to Suit by Attorney General Wendy Ritz ordered the court reporter not to prepare the transcript, despite the court order to the contrary, because she thought the petition would be dismissed on procedural grounds. The state court called the AGs conduct "outrageous" and ordered the attorney generals …
Prosecutorial Liability Explained by Stephen Buckley sought damages, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, from prosecutors for fabricating evidence during the preliminary investigation of a highly publicized rape and murder case in Illinois, and form making false statements as a press conference announcing the return of an indictment against him. He …
Prosecutorial Liability Explained by Stephen Buckley sought damages, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, from prosecutors for fabricating evidence during the preliminary investigation of a highly publicized rape and murder case in Illinois, and for making false statements at a press conference announcing the return of an indictment against him. He …
AG Not Entitled to Immunity by Paul and I have been doing the newsletter with this new 16-paged magazine format for several months now, and in that time we have managed to get a sense of what difference in cost this new printing system will make. By dividing our production …
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