AELE LAW LIBRARY OF CASE SUMMARIES:
Civil Liability of Law Enforcement Agencies
& Personnel
Defenses: Absolute Witness Immunity
A man's conviction
for the abduction and sexual assault of a woman was overturned after new
evidence was revealed and a key witness recanted her testimony. On retrial,
the accused was found not guilty, and released, having served twelve years
in prison. The accused then sued a police detective, a forensic consultant,
and his alleged victim. A federal appeals court ruled that the statements
of a potential witness who had not testified at the original trial should
have been disclosed to the defense because they called into question, if
not entirely discredited, the crime victim's identification of the plaintiff
as one of her attackers, so that summary judgment was reversed on claims
arising from the alleged failure to disclose exculpatory evidence. Claims
against the detective for perjury, however, were barred by absolute witness
immunity, since they were based on his trial testimony, instead of his
role as complaining witness. Moldowan v. City of Warren, #07-2115/2116/2117,
2009 U.S. App. Lexis 17988 (6th Cir.), amended by Moldowan v. City of Warren,
2009 U.S. App. Lexis 18562 (6th Cir.).
Police detective was entitled to absolute
witness immunity for allegedly conspiring to commit perjury at arrestee's
preliminary hearing and trial Hunt v. Bennett, 17 F.3d 1263 (10th Cir.
1994).