Source:
Chicago TribuneAnthony Harris' murder confession was coerced and inaccurate. He's suing official who used it against him.The legal story of
Anthony Harris began in July 1998 when the 12-year-old boy was charged with the murder of a 5-year-old girl. Now his case has wound its way through state and federal courtrooms and even reaches into the sands of Iraq.
Nearly a decade after
Harris was convicted—wrongly, the courts have since ruled—of the murder of Devan Duniver in New Philadelphia, Ohio, a city south of Cleveland, an appeals court has taken the unusual step of ordering the chief prosecutor to go on trial for civil damages.
"It's rare for prosecutors to be tried for civil rights violations," said Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University and a former New York state prosecutor who wrote a legal textbook on prosecutorial misconduct. "I don't know that anybody keeps track of the frequency of prosecutors going to trial. But it's my sense that it is extremely infrequent."
It is a ruling that, according to some legal experts, should send a message to prosecutors, who historically have been granted immunity from damages so they may prosecute cases without fear of legal retaliation by defendants. The message: They cannot automatically assume that a confession is the truth.
Chicago TribuneRead more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-prosecutor-suedmay15,0,1807931.story
Will this mean that the 'Two-Ton Contest' is coming to an end?