malicious prosecution

McDonough v. Smith August 3, 2018

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed that a district attorney was not liable for malicious prosecution or fabrication of evidence. This lawsuit was brought by the former Democratic Commissioner of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections, who was acquitted in state court of forging absentee ballots in a local primary election. He contended that the district attorney who prosecuted the case had violated his civil rights. However, the Second Circuit held that the plaintiff's due process claim was time-barred and his malicious prosecution claim was precluded by absolute immunity. The panel therefore affirmed the dismissal of those claims.

Prosecutors who bend or even break the rules to win a conviction almost never face any punishment. But even given lax controls, the blatant and systemic misconduct in the Orange County district attorney’s office in Southern California stands out. In a scheme that may go back as far as 30 years, prosecutors and the county sheriff’s department have elicited illegal jailhouse confessions, failed to turn over evidence that is favorable to defendants and lied repeatedly in court about what they did.