On October, 17, 2017, eight residents of Louisiana who were victims of or witnesses to crimes filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, alleging that they had been jailed or threatened with jail by prosecutors in hopes of ensuring their testimony in court. They sued the District Attorney of Orleans Parish along with several assistant district attorneys under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law. The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU and Civil Rights Corps, sought injunctive and monetary relief as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. The case was assigned to Judge Jane Triche Milazzo.
The plaintiffs claimed that, pursuant to official policies, practices, and customs of the defendant Orleans Parish District Attorney, prosecutors routinely issued their own fabricated subpoenas, without any judicial approval or oversight, in order to coerce victims and witnesses into submitting to interrogations by prosecutors outside of court. According to the plaintiffs, if this unlawful coercion did not succeed, the defendants unlawfully arrested victims and witnesses and ensured that they would languish in jail by obtaining high secured money bonds. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants’ use of extrajudicial and unlawful means to coerce, arrest, and imprison crime victims and witnesses violated the plaintiffs’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights along with other violations of state law.
On December 21, 2017, the plaintiffs filed their first amended complaint. As such, the plaintiffs filed a consent motion to treat any previously filed motions to dismiss as moot. The plaintiffs argued that the filing of an amended complaint rendered any prior complaint and any motion to dismiss the prior complaint void. On January 2, 2018, Judge Milazzo granted this motion.
On January 25, 2018, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint that added one plaintiff and two defendants to the case.
On March 1, 2018, the defendants together filed a joint motion to dismiss all claims against them, arguing that prosecutors were protected by absolute immunity with respect to actions taken as advocates of the state and by qualified immunity with respect to their official actions. The defendants also argued that the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment claims, as well as the state law claims, were all barred by absolute immunity and the plaintiffs had failed to adequately state a claim. The court heard the parties’ oral arguments on May 31, 2018.
The court had not yet ruled on the latest motion to dismiss as of June 12, 2018. The Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, and the Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault filed amicus briefs in support of the plaintiff’s opposition to the motion to dismiss. The case is ongoing.
Jake Parker - 07/16/2018
compress summary
