Subscribe/Renew
Current Issue
Back Issues
A compilation of
Legal and
Law Enforcement
Links
Contact LELP at
phone/fax
630 858 6392
421 Ridgewood Ave
Suite 100
Glen Ellyn, IL
60137-4900
LEGAL REVIEW (R)
Highlights of This Issue
Special Bulletin:
- Absolute Immunity Rule for Prosecutors Extended to Certain Administrative Functions
United States Supreme Court Action
- Police Can Search Car Passengers On Officer Safety Grounds
- Exclusionary Rule Limited to Intentional Misconduct
- Police Civil Liability Defense Expanded
- Employee Rights to Complain of Sexual Harassment Expanded
Federal and State Decisions
- Arrest, Search and Seizure Issues: search warrants; staleness; informer reliability; connection between drug sales and home; search incident to arrest; cell phones; body cavity search; exigent circumstances; judicial authorization; workplace search; right to privacy; probation search; home; parolee search; harassment; protective sweep; grab area; officer safety; hotel room searches; manager’s eviction; plain view doctrine; gun near drug paraphernalia; search of handcuffed suspect; domestic violence cases; traffic stop issues
- Interrogation Issues: custody; home interviews; interrogation; functional equivalent; statements of fact; adequacy of warnings; reference to TV shows and prior arrests; invocation of right to counsel; unequivocal request; public safety exception; officer safety; voluntariness; deception; violation of rules; promise of leniency; inaccurate statement of possible sentence
- Crimes; Evidence; Trial Issues: child pornography; home computer; intoxication; prescription drugs; identity evidence; fingerprints and photographs; police witnesses; admissibility of alleged false prior testimony; other crimes testimony
- Civil Liability/Personnel Law Issues: liability for false arrests; mentally unstable persons; liability for deadly force; mentally disabled persons; Americans With Disabilities Act; reasonable accommodation; liability for excessive force; use of dogs; duty to intervene; liability for 911 calls; negligence; police personnel files; discovery by defendant; labor issues; change in duties not a demotion
Contents
United States Supreme Court
Arrest, Search and Seizure
Interrogation
Crimes; Evidence; Trial Issues
Civil Liability / Personnel Law
Special Bulletin
Special Bulletin: Absolute Immunity Rule for Prosecutors Extended to Certain Administrative Functions.
Van de Kamp et al v. Goldstein, No. 07-854 (2009).
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-854.ZS.html; http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/07854.html
Plaintiff was released from prison after he filed a successful federal habeas petition alleging that his murder conviction depended, in critical part, on the false testimony of a jailhouse informant who had received reduced sentences for providing prosecutors with favorable testimony in other cases; that prosecutors knew, but failed to give his attorney, this potential impeachment information; and that, among other things, that failure led to his erroneous conviction. Plaintiff sued under 42 U. S. C. § 1983, asserting the prosecution violated its constitutional duty to communicate impeachment information, due to the failure of defendants, supervisory prosecutors, to properly train or supervise prosecutors or to establish an information system containing potential impeachment material about informants. The prosecutors were refused absolute immunity in the federal courts because their shortcomings were “administrative” rather than “prosecutorial” in nature and only the later have been accorded absolute immunity from § 1983 liability.
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that although the plaintiff challenged administrative procedures, they are procedures that were directly connected with a trial’s conduct. The obligations in this case were unlike administrative duties concerning, e.g., workplace hiring. Moreover, they necessarily required legal knowledge and the exercise of related discretion, e.g., in determining what information should be included in training, supervision, or information-system management. Given these features, absolute immunity was required. The relevant management tasks concerned how and when to make impeachment information available at trial, and, thus, were directly connected with a prosecutor’s basic trial duties.
Renewal Form; Internet Services
highlights
- Absolute Immunity Rule for Prosecutors Extended to Certain Administrative Functions
United States Supreme Court Action
- Police Can Search Car Passengers On Officer Safety Grounds
- Exclusionary Rule Limited to Intentional Misconduct
- Police Civil Liability Defense Expanded
- Employee Rights to Complain of Sexual Harassment Expanded
Federal and State Decisions
- Arrest, Search and Seizure Issues: search warrants; staleness; informer reliability; connection between drug sales and home; search incident to arrest; cell phones; body cavity search; exigent circumstances; judicial authorization; workplace search; right to privacy; probation search; home; parolee search; harassment; protective sweep; grab area; officer safety; hotel room searches; manager’s eviction; plain view doctrine; gun near drug paraphernalia; search of handcuffed suspect; domestic violence cases; traffic stop issues
- Interrogation Issues: custody; home interviews; interrogation; functional equivalent; statements of fact; adequacy of warnings; reference to TV shows and prior arrests; invocation of right to counsel; unequivocal request; public safety exception; officer safety; voluntariness; deception; violation of rules; promise of leniency; inaccurate statement of possible sentence
- Crimes; Evidence; Trial Issues: child pornography; home computer; intoxication; prescription drugs; identity evidence; fingerprints and photographs; police witnesses; admissibility of alleged false prior testimony; other crimes testimony
- Civil Liability/Personnel Law Issues: liability for false arrests; mentally unstable persons; liability for deadly force; mentally disabled persons; Americans With Disabilities Act; reasonable accommodation; liability for excessive force; use of dogs; duty to intervene; liability for 911 calls; negligence; police personnel files; discovery by defendant; labor issues; change in duties not a demotion
Contents
United States Supreme CourtArrest, Search and Seizure
Interrogation
Crimes; Evidence; Trial Issues
Civil Liability / Personnel Law
Special Bulletin
-
Special Bulletin: Absolute Immunity Rule for Prosecutors Extended to Certain Administrative Functions.
-
Van de Kamp et al v. Goldstein, No. 07-854 (2009).
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-854.ZS.html; http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/07854.html
-
Plaintiff was released from prison after he filed a successful federal habeas petition alleging that his murder conviction depended, in critical part, on the false testimony of a jailhouse informant who had received reduced sentences for providing prosecutors with favorable testimony in other cases; that prosecutors knew, but failed to give his attorney, this potential impeachment information; and that, among other things, that failure led to his erroneous conviction. Plaintiff sued under 42 U. S. C. § 1983, asserting the prosecution violated its constitutional duty to communicate impeachment information, due to the failure of defendants, supervisory prosecutors, to properly train or supervise prosecutors or to establish an information system containing potential impeachment material about informants. The prosecutors were refused absolute immunity in the federal courts because their shortcomings were “administrative” rather than “prosecutorial” in nature and only the later have been accorded absolute immunity from § 1983 liability.
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that although the plaintiff challenged administrative procedures, they are procedures that were directly connected with a trial’s conduct. The obligations in this case were unlike administrative duties concerning, e.g., workplace hiring. Moreover, they necessarily required legal knowledge and the exercise of related discretion, e.g., in determining what information should be included in training, supervision, or information-system management. Given these features, absolute immunity was required. The relevant management tasks concerned how and when to make impeachment information available at trial, and, thus, were directly connected with a prosecutor’s basic trial duties.
Copyright (c) 2009 by Law Enforcement Legal Publications