Legal question- Can a lawsuit be brought against the prosecutor's office?

Question

A taped confession was released to the public.

Answer 1

our country is briming with litigation no one is exempt from a lawsuit. if the case has merit litigate it. i also would think by releasing any evidence before trial would either void said evidence or render a fair trial very unlikely. bad d.a.

Answer 2

It annoys me greatly when I see questions of this nature.

In the first place, there is inadequate information here to determine if there is any grounds for a lawsuit against the prosecutor. Furthermore, based on the very limited information here, I fail to see a cause of action. In most states, the evidence in a court proceeding is public record. This includes, but is not limited to, depositions, testimony, records, etc. This doesn't mean its free.. the courts and/or police can request a fee for making a copy. But its available.

It IS unethical (in my opinion) for a prosecutor to release a confession or any other highly inflamitory evidence to the public prior to trial. The reason for this is to help insure that the accused has a right to a fair hearing without being tried in the court of public media. This is also the reason why courts often issue gag orders, forbidding both the prosecution and the defense from speaking to the press.

IF a court has issued a gag order, and evidence is released to the public, there may be sanctions imposed by the court. These can include (but are again, not limited to) change of venue, or a referral by the court of the offender to the state bar's disciplinary committees.

This is very general information, and in no way should be construed as advice in your case, since you did not give anywhere near enough details. You need to consult an attorney in your state. If you do not know one, consult your state bar association for a referral

Answer 3

For releasing evidence to the public? There's no right to privacy in evidence gathered by an investigator. In fact, even if the confession was taken without giving a Miranda warning, it could still be made public even if it couldn't be used in court. Unless you're in a closed court, or the judge has ordered no public statements, saying something in open court is legally the same as saying it to the press. There's a whole host of reasons why prosecutors don't do this, but it's not because it's illegal.

Answer 4

How to Offset Prosecutorial Misconduct and Abuses

Prosecutorial misconduct and abuses does not have to go without offset or remedy. There are some things which can be done to counter the illegal activities of prosecutors.

Obviously, a victim-defendant is in a precarious position and may (justifiably or instinctively) feel that he/she should do nothing to upset the prosecutor.

The prosecutor is thinking along a similar line: He/she hopes that the victim and his/her lawyer does nothing to interfere with or disclose the prosecutor's illegal conduct.

Here are some things you, as a victim, or as the victim's lawyer, should consider to counter illegal activities by a prosecutor:

1. Remembering that the right to sue a local or state government is often conditioned upon receipt of some type of notice within a short period of time (such as 90 days) after the state action in question, the victim/defendant can file a notice of (meritorious) claim against the prosecutor, the investigator, policepersons, municipality, police department, or other government entity or official
2. Commence a (meritorious) lawsuit against the which instigated the criminal proceedings, on such grounds as defamation, interference, civil rights violation, slander
3. Move to enjoin the prosecutor from further illegal conduct
4. Move to dismiss the indictment or other criminal proceeding based on the prosecutorial misconduct or prosecutorial abuse
5. File a complaint against the prosecuting attorney with the Disciplinary Committee maintained by the Courts or other government agency
6. Move for a preliminary hearing (prior to an indictment) to obtain evidence from the complainant and/or others showing misconduct by the prosecutor
7. Bring a (meritorious) civil action to obtain discovery which will be helpful in fighting the criminal action, recognizing there are problems relating to the defendant's 5th Amendment rights, which must be thought through carefully beforehand
8. Go to the press with your plight
9. Maintain a continuing relationship with the press concerning your criminal and any related civil proceedings
10. Create a website publicizing and updating your plight
11. Create a mailing list of interested persons in the news media to receive regular communications about what is happening
12. Obtain an e-mail list of all members of the Senate and House of Representatives and e-mail your complaint to them, for their legislative assistants to consider; try to generate a congressional hearing in the Judiciary Committee of both houses to investigate the ongoing prosecutorial abuses, with the idea of writing and enacting curative legislation; [a problem exists in that various ISP's may not permit your mail to go through because such mailing would be called "spamming" or "spam", thereby giving these corporate dominators of internet the self-proclaimed right to stop your messages asking for help.
13. Move for various evidentiary hearings to determine whether there was one kind or another of unlawful search and seizure
14. Move for the disqualification of the prosecutor on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct
15. Watch to see whether the selection of the judge is at random or selected by the prosecutor (through the prosecutor's communications with the clerk's office and request for "expedited" treatment of the defendant's own motion); this means that the prosecutor is requesting and getting a judge other than the one which normally would have heard the defendant's motion. This type of judge selection should be challenged by appropriate motion or inquiry.

http://www.lawmall.com/abuse/abhelp.html

Answer 5

If you have anything like evidence or something of the sort yes you can. You can have a lawsuit on the pres. or even a judge so why not the prosecuters office too.

Answer 6

ANYONE can sue ANYONE for ANYTHING if they have the time, money and a good lawyer

Answer 7

yes. consult a criminal lywer who specialty is malpracis

Answer 8

why not???