Can Prosecutors Be Sued By People They Framed?

[Toad82]

Can Prosecutors Be Sued By People They Framed?
by Nina Totenberg

November 4, 2009

Do prosecutors have total immunity from lawsuits for anything they do, including framing someone for murder? That is the question the justices of the Supreme Court face Wednesday.

On one side of the case being argued are Iowa prosecutors who contend "there is no freestanding right not to be framed." They are backed by the Obama administration, 28 states and every major prosecutors organization in the country.

On the other side are two black men — Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee — men who served 25 years in prison before evidence long hidden in police files resulted in them being freed.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120069519


What are your thoughts?

[Falke]

Prosecutors are not above the law, nor should they be. If they screw up, they should have to face the same penalties that anyone else would.

[FalconAngel]

Prosecutors and judges can be prosecuted for their part in helping to violate their oaths of office and/or your civil rights.

It falls under two laws. One is "violation of the oath of office" and the other is "denial of honest service". Both are felony criminal acts under state and federal law here in the US. One US Supreme Court justice even considers violation of the oath of office to be akin to treason.

The oath of office of ALL court officers, of which all practicing lawyers are, requires integrity of action and behavior in all legal matters and for judges it obligates the judge to protect the civil rights of ALL persons in their courts. Even and particularly, the accused.

Violation of the Oath of Office is also a denial of honest services as well.

This is the judicial oath of office:
http://outlawjudges.org/oathofoffice.aspx

And while judges are protected under Judicial immunity laws, it does not protect them from prosecution for actions that violate their oath of office, nor does it protect them from any other violations of the law.
It is designed exclusively to protect them from prosecution from people that did not like the judges findings and related frivolous lawsuits.

Hope that helps.
And if some lawyer tells you that you cannot sue a judge because of judicial immunity, then remind them of the above.

[Toad82]

If that is true why is the Supreme Court going to decide if DA's can be sued. It does not seem so clear to SCOTUS.

[FalconAngel]

If that is true why is the Supreme Court going to decide if DA's can be sued. It does not seem so clear to SCOTUS.

The problem is that most people, including many judges and bar associations, do not understand the Judicial immunity laws and their intent.

It is not to protect them from the penalties of wrongdoing, just protection from being sued for doing their job.

Also, as I said before, the Fed uses "denial of honest services" to get folks that have done things that are legally questionable and morally wrong; such as framing someone just to get a conviction or improve a conviction rate, when they know that they have the wrong person.