Who are they going to sue? Even if there was a miscarriage of justice judicial immunity exempts the courts from all lawsuits. States have sovereign immunity, unless they waive it. They can still be subject to criminal prosecution but...
Ontopic WM3
- Thread starter Petunia
- Start date
If wrongly convicted and imprisoned in the UK you can ( under dertain circumstances) claim compensation from the state. There have been cases where evidence was manufactured or forensic evidence obtained which was later deemed unsafe and the person wrongly imprisoned was able to claim substantial compensation.
Apparently it's quite rare, ruling on Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 133
You couldn't even make a comparable case in the UK because you don't have plea bargaining.
Fabricating evidence is a crime and you could pursue that here, against that one person. The state in general and it's officials acting in the normal course of their duties have immunity, which only makes sense.
It's not all that rare. In cases where there has been a miscarriage of justice and either of the following applies.
Category 1 - the fresh evidence shows the person to be innocent;
Category 2 - had the fresh evidence been available at the trial, no reasonable jury could properly have convicted the defendant
There are many famous cases where substantial compensation was paid, and in some cases police officers charged
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Three
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Nickell_murder_case
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kiszko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six
Category 1 - the fresh evidence shows the person to be innocent;
Category 2 - had the fresh evidence been available at the trial, no reasonable jury could properly have convicted the defendant
There are many famous cases where substantial compensation was paid, and in some cases police officers charged
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_Three
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Nickell_murder_case
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kiszko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six
The Huffington Post seems to think there's the potential to sue the state for wrongful imprisonment sometimes.
Concerning the Alford Pleas
"Such pleas could make it more difficult for the men to sue the state over their imprisonment."
Also
"The Massachusetts Appeals Court today ruled a man arrested by two Boston detectives who later pled guilty to making up warrants and keeping the proceeds of raids can sue the state under a law designed to compensate people found innocent after their convictions."
http://www.universalhub.com/node/26009
Looks like some states have waived their 'sovereign rights' then. Remind me again how Rodney King got his $3.8 million. Didn't sue the PD did he?
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I didn't feel like replying because it's a waste of my time.
This is what you said.
You can't bring a civil suit against the state in general because of sovereign immunity (except where they decide you can), it's is a huge difference from being an individual who is strictly liable. Flowing from that you can't sue public officials for acting in the normal course of their duties, it follows that there is no individual strict liability for mistakes of law. For example, you are convicted of a crime by a jury and sent to prison, on appeal you get the decision vacated or declared a mistrial: you cannot sue the judge for damages, you cannot sue the warden of the prison for wrongful imprisonment, they were acting in the course of their normal duties.
That doesn't excuse criminal behavior, you quoted several cases, all of which involved some type of gross negligence or outright fabrication on part of investigators. Those are crimes. In the US you could sue the individual responsible parties because it's generally understood that anyone who uses their position for a criminal purpose has voided their powers. You still cannot sue the state though.
It's not uncommon for immunity to be waived by legislation though, the federal government has generally waived immunity in regards to business contracts and misconduct by federal employees. I forget the exact name of the law though. In the Boston case there right in the first paragraph "can sue the state under a law designed to compensate people found innocent after their convictions." Note: found innocent is key because most people are NOT found innocent, appellate courts can vacate or declare earlier trials mistrials but they cant make determinations of fact in criminal cases (except in cases of equity).
Your government otoh has waived all liability except in contracts, which is weird but whatever. I wonder how you force "the crown" to pay its debts.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/33/section/133 Similar to the MA law, the persons have to be found innocent and can't be subject to retrial. Though, I would consider this an incredible tax burden because they are essentially making the individuals immune and paying the wronged parties out from public money.
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the wrongfully imprisoned sue the state all the time and win. I don't know what he's smoking
"White was convicted in 1999 of sexually abusing his 12-year-old stepdaughter after his then-wife accused him of the crime while the two were separated in 1998. After his conviction but before sentencing, White fled to Costa Rica, where he stayed for several months before being captured and brought back to Missouri. He was sentenced to 50 years behind bars."
Turns out the wife was sleeping with a detective who made up the charges, the police department later found out and moved to cover the entire thing up leaving White in prison, and even went as far as signing a document saying the city will cover any lawsuit against the corrupt detective! Guy won 15.5 million which the city was liable for because of the corrupt police department and they just recently paid.
This whole thing just ended last month, but started 13 years ago. For some reason the detective and the ex wife were never thrown charged and thrown in prison... and the police department who covered it up was never touched. The city got hung for 15.5 million (and court costs) to cover their fuckups and coverups.
http://www.kmbc.com/news/27576872/detail.html
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/07/22/3031335/lees-summit-to-pay-155-million.html
Turns out the wife was sleeping with a detective who made up the charges, the police department later found out and moved to cover the entire thing up leaving White in prison, and even went as far as signing a document saying the city will cover any lawsuit against the corrupt detective! Guy won 15.5 million which the city was liable for because of the corrupt police department and they just recently paid.
This whole thing just ended last month, but started 13 years ago. For some reason the detective and the ex wife were never thrown charged and thrown in prison... and the police department who covered it up was never touched. The city got hung for 15.5 million (and court costs) to cover their fuckups and coverups.
http://www.kmbc.com/news/27576872/detail.html
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/07/22/3031335/lees-summit-to-pay-155-million.html
Municipalities don't have 11th amendment immunity, Lincoln Country v. Luning, even when they exercise government powers.
Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
omg
im gonna hug my son so hard.
I know. It seriously makes me tear up like crazy thinking about little children being so violated and just suffering so much.
Man, I wanna kill some parents, for real.