Federal Civil Rights lawsuit
28FEB02 - NEW STUFF AT BOTTOM
Facts
Yes, you as a citizen can file a civil rights lawsuit against the police/DA. As unfortunate as it sounds, when the police/DA refuse to act on criminal acts committed by themselves, this may be your only recourse. It is a long, uphill struggle, but it sure makes you understand why lawyers get so much money for these cases and why the police/DA are so bold in committing crimes against citizens. If the crimes committed against you are numerous and by different people apparently involved in a conspiracy, see RICO.
This is referred to as a Section 1983 action.
TITLE 42 - THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
civil rights
42 U.S.C. §1983
Sec. 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/1983.html
The disadvantages of a Federal Civil Rights lawsuit are:
1 - There is a 1 year statute of limitations on filing.
2 - If the police/DA got a conviction on you that has not yet been overturned on appeal, pardoned, or impugned by a writ of habeas corpus, they will move to have the lawsuit dismissed and will generally succeed.
The references that the police/DA typically use is Heck v. Humphrey. The decisions of Heck v. Humphrey, in which an incarcerated person was making claims based on procedural prosecutorial misconduct, appears to have been amplified in the later decision of Spencer v. Kemna, (See the concurring opinion by Justice Souter) where it is explicitly stated that Heck v. Humphrey applies only to a person incarcerated, not to persons free. This decision, however, does not stop the police/DA from using Heck v. Humphrey in all cases to shut down your civil rights suit where the police/DA have been able to get a conviction on you for any reason.
The case previously stated here, that is scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2001 (Saucier v. Katz, 99-1977, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 98-16298), appears to this untrained eye to relate to immunities from suit by police/DA. Will add more on this case as it is found.
Each of the district courts in California has a web page that contains a lot of useful information on procedures, rules, schedules, etc:
Southern District of California
Central District of California
Northern District of California
Notes
28Feb02 - Sheriff attacks citizen and manufactures charges against the citizen that was attacked in order to take advantage of the Heck v. Humphrey dismissal argument.
Actual lawsuit - Page_1 Page_2 Page_3 Page_4 Page_5 Page_6 Page_7 Page_8 Page_9 Page_10 Page_11 Page_12 Page_13 Page_14
Note the above was prepared as a first effort by a citizen with no legal experience or training so it is rather rough. It does, however, have all the necessary components to get the lawsuit started.
Note also that, if you followed all the arguments, you will never see the defendants in this lawsuit ever deny that any of the charges are true.
Note that this lawsuit made it as far as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before finally being shot down on the argument that it is allowable for prosecutors to bring false charges and if they get away with a conviction you cannot sue the police or prosecutor for anything, even excessive force.
