Can Prosecutors Be Sued By People They Framed?

[Brewman_Jax]

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

From the article: 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.
________________

Considering that black people are disproportionately targeted for prosecution, suffer greater penalties than their white counterparts for the same offense and more likely to be incarcerated, the prosecution and police need to have their immunity removed so that they can be sued. In the Tulia, TX drug sting case and Jena, LA assault cases, with majority black defendants, black people were unfairly targeted, prosecuted, and jailed, and the police and prosecution suffered no official punishment, while in the Duke lacrosse team rape case with all white defendants, the white defendants were unfairly targeted and the local DA was fired and disbarred.

[Number23]

1. Really interesting stuff. Thanks for posting

On one hand, I think anyone should be able to sue someone who wrongfully accuses them of a crime, and that includes prosecutors.

On the other, you know the prosecutors will argue that they were only "doing their jobs" particularly if they were assigned by the state.

The case mentioned in the article against the person in the article, Terry Harrington, makes me want to scream. You know that this happens all of the time but it is so wrong. So immoral and wrong.

[Brewman_Jax]

2. Especially since they prefer to target people of color

if the Innocence Project and recent news articles are any indication, and they are. Also, the same sources show that law enforcement and prosection can get away with harming people of color and receive no punishment.

[noiretextatique]

6. concealing evidence is not their job

prosecutors who break the rules should be sued...cops too. because guess who pays when they don't follow the rules? we do...the taxpayers.

[Number23]

7. Exactly. And as Brew said, as BLACK taxpayers we pay a double score

since blacks are always disproportionately targeted for this type of mess.

[noiretextatique]

8. abolutely...it's sickening

i remember this case from the seventies in LA.

Eula Love was killed by LAPD officers in an extremely well known "bad shooting" in 1979. Love had threatened the officers with a knife and threw it at them when they told her to drop it. While the officers were cleared of any wrong doing, her survivors won a big settlement against the city with the help of attorney Johnnie Cochran. Love's death was the first in a long line of officer involved shootings that eventually lead to a complete revamping of how law enforcement deals with "use of force", especially in how it relates to people not armed with guns and people who are mentally ill.

i bet if i posted this in a thread in GD, some people would still support the cops. i have long believed that some white americans believe harassing black and brown people is one of main functions of police departments.

[Blue_Tires]

3. why sue the prosecutors??

why not the police force, city/county/state governments?? i thought that is how its usually done?

[Brewman_Jax]

4. They should be sued, too

since it can become a grand conspiracy, but the prosecution generally has the final say if they will or will not choose to prosecute the suspect.

[Blue_Tires]

5. more info here:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1934836,00.html