Eric Hartwell contacted the Defendants from the Anamosa prison, where he was serving ten years for breaking and entering. Larsen and Hrvol interviewed Hartwell at the Anamosa prison on April 7, , and Hartwell signed a statement setting forth that while he and McGhee were incarcerated together in the Pottawattamie County jail, McGhee told him that he, Harrington, and another person got a gauge shotgun out the trunk, wrapped it in a jacket, went around the back of the dealership, and Harrington shot the "sheriff' twice.
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Hartwell admitted, however, that McGhee had the True Information dated February 17, , with him in jail, but Hartwell denied looking at the document. Hartwell expected and receive a reduction in his sentence in exchange for his testimony. Again, the Court believes that a reasonable jury could still find probable cause lacking viewing the totality of the circumstances known even after the three jailhouse informants offered testimony about McGhee allegedly discussing Schweer's murder.
New York, F. Accordingly, the Court must conclude that, even given all information known to law enforcement at the time Harrington and McGhee went to trial in , a reasonable jury could find that probable cause was lacking to arrest them for Schweer's murder. Despite the Court's conclusion that a reasonable jury could find probable cause lacking to arrest the Plaintiffs at all stages of the proceedings prior to trial, the Court must still evaluate whether absolute immunity is available to Richter or Hrvol at any stage of the proceedings.
Under both Supreme Court and Eighth Circuit jurisprudence, the law is clear that prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity only for actions within the scope of their prosecutorial duties, and not for administrative or investigative duties. See Smith v. Updegraff, F. Gibson, F. Turner, F.
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As noted previously, "the official seeking absolute immunity bears the burden of showing that such immunity is justified for the functions in question. A short review of the history and purpose of the absolute immunity doctrine sheds some light on its applicability to the present case. Slinkard, Ind. Goff U. In light of Imbler, the Court must find that the filing of a True Information against the Plaintiffs on February 17, , constitutes the "initiation of criminal proceedings" and the prosecutors are, hence, absolutely immune from liability, even in the absence of probable cause.
In the State of Iowa, a prosecutor charging a defendant with an indictable offense by filing a trial information must endorse the information as a true information. Iowa R. Petersen, N. Shank, N. The conclusion that filing the True Information is protected by absolute immunity is consistent with the Supreme Court's holding in Kalina v.
Fletcher, U. Based on the certification, the trial court found probable cause and issued an arrest warrant for Fletcher. Thus, the prosecutor "performed an act that any competent witness might have performed" and hence could be liable to the same extent as any complaining witness. Here, in contrast, Iowa law required that the prosecutor endorse the true information. Thus, the task could not have been performed by anyone other than a prosecutor, and distinguishes the present facts sufficiently from Kalina such that the function of signing the True Information must necessarily be deemed an intimate part of the judicial process.
See Schenk v. Chavis, F. Likewise, any actions taken by Hrvol or Richter in actually presenting the State's case against Harrington and McGhee at trial must be considered part of the judicial process and absolutely immune from liability.
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See, e. Morris, F. The same is true for allegations of withholding or suppressing exculpatory evidence. Soliciting and suborning perjured testimony does not create liability in damages for a prosecutor. Morris, U. Prior to the filing of the True Information, however, the record supports a conclusion that both Hrvol and Richter were acting in an investigatory capacity rather than in an advocatory capacity. Supreme Court precedent supports the conclusion that, because no probable cause was established at the time that Hrvol and Richter are alleged to have coerced witnesses and fabricated evidence prior to the filing of the True Information, the prosecutors were acting in an investigatory capacity rather than an advocatory capacity.
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Furthermore, evaluating the functions performed by Richter and Hrvol supports a conclusion that their actions prior to the filing of the True Information were investigatory in nature, and thus entitled, at best, to qualified immunity. Richter testified at deposition that he oversaw the prosecutor's participation in the investigation of the Schweer murder and that his office participated to a significant extent in the investigation. Hrvol participated in a canvassing of the neighborhood near the scene of the murder, and did a lot of other "stuff' related to the investigation because the "police field investigators needed help with the investigation and put a lot of man-hours into the investigation.
While Hrvol was not present on every occasion that Hughes was questioned by the police, he was present with them on nearly every occasion when Hughes was interviewed, including when Hughes was taken to the scene of the Schweer murder. Hence, it is reasonable to presume that Hrvol was present when law enforcement caught Hughes in lies, told him he'd "better cough up the truth" or it wouldn't look good for him, and when Hughes was told that he would be deemed the "trigger man" if he didn't come up with something.
Hrvol admits that he was not even assigned the responsibility of prosecuting the case throughout the early part of the investigation, but rather was assisting the police in the investigation. Richter personally interviewed a witness after the murder, but before Harrington or McGhee were suspects, who stated that he had seen Charles Gates walking his dogs in the vicinity of the murder.
Richter also interviewed Hughes only a day after police and prosecutors took him to the scene of the murder for the fourth or fifth time [11] to "reenact" Hughes' account of the events. Richter and Hrvol, along with the police, consulted an astrologer to prepare astrological charts on Gates.
Indeed, both Richter and Hrvol worked closely with the Council Bluffs Police Department during the entirety of the Schweer murder investigation, "including participating in witness interview before any arrests were made. Council Bluffs police officer Larry Williams testified that Hrvol and Richter worked side by side with the police on the investigation. The fact that Hrvol and Richter do not contest any of the allegations of fact made by Plaintiffs for purposes of the summary judgment motion prohibits the Court from concluding that these actions were the function of advocates rather than investigators.
The Court finds that these activities took place prior to the establishment of probable cause and reasonably could be viewed as causatively violating the Plaintiffs' rights to a fair trial. Because Defendants have fundamentally admitted that they coached and coerced witnesses and fabricated evidence, the prosecutors have utterly failed to carry their burden to show that such acts were "intimately associated with the judicial process" such that they are entitled to absolute immunity.
It therefore remains protected only by qualified immunity. Longanbach, F. Daniel, F. Valder, 65 F.
It is rather a misuse of investigative techniques legitimately directed at exploring whether witness testimony is truthful and complete and whether the government has acquired all incriminating evidence. It therefore relates to a typical police function, the collection of information to be used in a prosecution.
City of New York, 45 F. Dawson, F. Whitley, F. With regard to Plaintiffs' allegation that Defendants intentionally concealed exculpatory information, the outcome is necessarily different. Plaintiffs claim that Richter and Hrvol intentionally concealed exculpatory evidence and promises of leniency or payments made to witnesses.
Maryland, U. There can be no doubt that evidence of promises or threats in exchange for testimony and evidence of an alternate suspect would have been material to determining Plaintiffs' guilt or innocence in their trials. See Giglio v. United States, U. Nonetheless, extensive authority exists to support a conclusion that the failure to turn over exculpatory evidence is necessarily a function intimately associated with the judicial process. See Imbler, U. Satz, F. Burch, 34 F. Moreover, the duty to turn over Brady evidence necessarily arises in the context of preparation for trial, thus making it inherently a prosecutorial function intimately associated with the trial process.
See United States v.
Banky-Alli, No. Portuondo, F. The question of whether Hrvol and Richter should receive absolute immunity for allegedly coercing jailhouse informants to give false testimony presents a slightly more difficult issue, primarily because the activity took place after the filing of the True Information which the Court has found is protected by absolute immunity. Hrvol is alleged to have told Pierce to lie about McGhee's confession in exchange for a reduction in his own sentence, and then made arrangements to place Pierce in a cell near McGhee to effectuate this purpose.
It is also claimed that Hrvol met with Pierce several times, without Pierce's attorney present, to tell Pierce what to say.
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Likewise, Hrvol was present when Eric Hartwell was initially interviewed, and helped to "clean up" his story to match other false testimony they had obtained. On the one hand, a jury could reasonably find that even the jailhouse informant testimony was insufficient to establish probable cause against the Plaintiffs, indicating that the prosecutors were necessarily acting in an investigatory capacity under Buckley I. Additionally, Buckley I noted that the fact that a prosecutor's bad act occurs after probable cause is established does not necessarily immunize it from liability, as a prosecutor may still act in an investigatory capacity even after probable cause has been established.