Consider the following hypothetical: You are jailed for two years as you await trial for murder. You are facing the death penalty. You have cancer, which relapsed during your incarceration without access to adequate treatment. And it turns out you were charged based on a false witness confession, which the local prosecutor allegedly destroyed evidence to obscure.
Now imagine suing that prosecutor and being told you have no recourse, because such government employees are entitled to absolute immunity.
This is the backdrop for Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion Tuesday arguing that the Supreme Court may need to reevaluate the confines of that legal doctrine—absolute prosecutorial immunity—which prevents victims of alleged prosecutorial misconduct from getting recourse in the vast majority of circumstances.
No question, and long overdue. there are countless cases of prosecutors withholding evidence that would help the defendant, manipulating facts, and outright lying. How many innocent people are put in prison just so they can get there conviction rate up in the 90% status realm. Too may of them have abused their immunity. Start holding them accountable. And it works the other way too, there are so many people that have done serious violent crimes or habitual offenses, but for political purposes Prosecutors drop the charges or reduce them and set the people free over and over. The time has come, the system isn’t working. Lady Justice is no longer blindfolded in our country.
That’s kinda what I’m dealing with right now, I was convicted twice for the same crime “Double jeopardy” and didn’t even know it, I thought it was standard procedure for a probation transfer.
Unfortunately I think the judge the DA and the public defender have complete immunity. Either way my civil rights were violated. Not only that I had those same charges reduced to a misdemeanor and dismissed.
My attorney said let’s just focus on getting you off the registry first and then will double back on them.
She’s afraid that because my civil rights have been violated by the California superior court the DA’s office and the Public defenders office might try and silence me.
In her words these people who were in the court room that day are big time attorneys now, some even judges, So we got tread lightly.
Ironic that the same guy who wanted the death penalty for black youths falsely imprisoned for the rape of a white woman in Central Park, wants immunity for himself from the same Manhattan prosecutor’s office that wrongly convicted the Central Park 5
I did nine years. More than most less than some. In all that time, I discovered that the supposed good guys are actually the real bad guys sometimes. There were a few good people.
What I’m saying is that to give ANYONE (President included) absolute immunity is BEYOND IDIOTIC! You are pretty much giving them a pass to commit all sorts of agregious behavior. In the name of Justice of course. (/sarcasm). (or “National Security”)
I am 100% against anyone in power having unlimited power. These prosecutors go crazy with tax payer money to fund all sorts of frivolous litigation. It happens in the Federal and State levels. It usually is in the form of committees needed to investigate something and then more committees to oversee it and then outside entities to be an “unbiased” third party and lawyers to represent them all…etc.
Anyway, the foremost reason, imo, for judicial misconduct and injustice in general is Immunity. If this country could wake up from sleep walking we could end that farcical concept.
The good justice is correct on this one. When the fox (the bar, ethics committees, and other judges/justices all made up of legal professionals) is guarding and protecting the hen house of lawyers (whether prosecuting, defense, or otherwise), it is hard for those harmed by the legal system to receive their day in court and seek recourse with a victory hopefully in the end. It is an incestuous environment, IMO, much like politics because the legal environment is very political.
Even a Brady violation (In the legal system of the United States, a Brady disclosure consists of exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence that is material to the guilt or innocence or to the punishment of a defendant. Brady disclosure can be hard to prove because it is subjective to begin with and those who are judging it have to be willing to put their name on the line of subjecting their fellow legal professional to punishment after a finding of guilt. I’m not saying they can’t, won’t, or don’t, but they seem to set the bar themselves at a level they feel is proper and, it appears to me, differently with each instance. As one who has solidly challenged the legal system and shown cause of legal malfeasance, only to be denied, those who do harm to clients and those who they are prosecuting get away with more than they should and would in another work environment, IMO. There should be no need for immunity by those who work the legal system (or appointed/elected office) if they did their work right by the law (and ethics) without nefarious actions in subverting the law, legal system, and ethics.
Just off hand, I’d say the biggest atty who did not get away with their poor behavior that first comes to my mind this morning was the rape case from NC in 2006 where players from a major university sport were falsely accused and the DA pressed ahead for their political gain. The state AG had to step in and stop the whole thing. The house of cards afterward fell in on the gent badly. You can read more online if you are interested.
(Side note – the good justice here is speaks well here on this topic, but is waaaay off base on another regarding immunity from this week. The top dog of this country cannot order a killing of a foreign leader by the military. The initial order is illegal and has been for over forty years and because of that, it is an unlawful order the military can disregard and disobey. Her thinking this can happen is off base and shows you the lack of consideration in the name of fear these folks wield (as we know). My point here to show they swing wildly in their thinking politically (and is beyond the scope of this forum).)
yep thats what you call CORRUPTION 101 !! 🙁 Typical in our US Government !
While Immunity for Prosecutors stays in place no defendant can have confidence in any court. One cannot trust any of these actors…
The guarantee of impunity guarantees dishonesty.
I’m reminded of Representative Boebert, that spent years protesting her Husband’s innocence, despite the fact he accepted a plea bargain, with not a single word about anyone else. She just assumed that her husband was the first, last, and only person that has ever, or will ever, feel pressured into accepting a plea bargain for a crime they, “Didn’t commit”? Perhaps she just plain doesn’t give a damn how many others it has happened to, or will happen to in the future?
Just presume the cops and DA made a “mistake” but that has never happened before, and will never happen again? Oh, a “mistake” that began with a group of girls claiming they were the, “victims” of a crime that “never happened”, according to her. Another completely unique situation, that will also never happen again?
I have always been of the belief that any misconduct by a prosecutor which results in punishment to the accused….the court should force the prosecutor to the same punishment, no matter the punishment. Quickest way to stop prosecutor misconduct.
Or as Bob Dylan states…
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
Giving Absolute Immunity to ANYONE just puts them above the law & that is so very wrong!\
I could be wrong about this but where I am at, the Head Prosecutor is voted in. And He or She runs the prosecutors that are working under them. If the public would just wake up, and learn that one vote that they have is so valuable. If a prosecutor is breaking the rules, then the public should cast their vote in the next election for another Head Prosecutor. Sooner or later the Head Prosecutor will get the picture that the public will not put up with the prosecutor mistakes. This can also work with state and federal elected officials. I say vote out the old and let us all start to vote some one new in.