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No "absolute immunity" for County Attorney who participated in illegal search

SCOTUS may not get the chance to decide on the limits of prosecutorial immunity, but the 5th Circuit recently ruled in a case out of Seguin that prosecutors' immunity for trial activities does not apply to investigative work or to "the prosecutorial function of giving advice to police." Reported the Courthouse News ("County attorney can be sued over pet seizure," Dec. 18):A Guadalupe County attorney is not immune from a lawsuit accusing her of illegally entering a Texas woman's home and helping to remove 47 dogs and cats, the 5th Circuit ruled.Prosecutorial immunity shields a prosecutor's role of evaluating evidence and interviewing witnesses before trial, not the detective work that forms the basis of a complaint or prosecution, the New Orleans-based appeals court noted...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 05, 2010 (boomark / email).