Wrongfully accused of a homicide

[38SnubFan]

I know this isn't firearms related, but I see there's no longer a Roundtable Discussion forum here anymore and I'm hoping some of the attorneys or Law Enforcement personnel here can bring some insight or assistance.

About 6 years ago, my girlfriend lost a good friend of hers to a serial killer. The killer had led police to believe that my girlfriend, her boyfriend at the time, as well as another friend had committed the act against the girl. She was interrogated by a police detective, and believed to be the primary suspect until years later when he struck again and killed two more adults and young child. This killer would ask a girl out, and when he was rejected, would add their name to the list of people he was going to kill in revenge. My girlfriend remained a suspect until 2005.

Since then, the real killer has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for his killing. His Victim Impact Hearing is on this Monday (the 12th), and she may have the oppurtunity to be at that hearing to read her Victim Impact Statement and face the man who not killed her best friend, but also deceitfully led police to believe SHE was the killer.

For six years, this woman has cried, gone through depression, lots of therapists, and an un-Godly amount of anguish. Not only did she lose her best friend to a mad-man who got away with it for six years, killing 3 more in the process, but also faced being charged, tried, and convicted for a crime she didn't commit.

The detective in the case did not even do so much as apologize to her for the mental anguish he put her through.

My question (well, actually her's) is this: Is there any legal ramifications for a law enforcement officer making a false accusation and wrongfully interrogating someone for a crime they did not commit, especially to consider them a suspect for over 6 years. I know that recently a man had been released from jail after 30+ years for a murder he did not commit, and is considering civil charges against the police department. However, the big point there is that the police department tampered the evidence and legal documents in order to get a quick conviction.

Does my girlfriend have any legal recourse here for the wrongful allegations, as well as her treatment by the police department invovled?

She's been hurting for six years. The only relief so far is that the real killer has been found and convicted, and can be at peace that justice will be served for her departed friend. The fact that she's been accused of killing her own friend who she loved so dearly, however, still tears her apart.

I'm hoping to help her heal in any way I can. I too, although a strong supporter of Law Enforcement Officers everywhere, feel that this case was not handled properly, and that the officers/detectives invovled have both a legal and moral obligation to stand up for the wrong they have done.

Any help/answers/assistance you guys/gals could provide will be, as always, greatly appreciated.

If there's any more information you need to know, please let me know and I'll do my best to provide or find that information.

Sincerely,
38SnubFan (and the "better half")

 

[Preacherman]

I've sent you a PM - please check and let's follow up.

 

[redneckrepairs]

i am glad to see preacherman handle this via pm but would like to see the thread closed before further details surface , imho this would best be handled privately by thoes with intrest , not posted on public board further ( i know my post count is low as i am a habitual lurker for the most part ) it may save some issues later if this moves into a civil/criminal situation ya know

 

[Cosmoline]

My question (well, actually her's) is this: Is there any legal ramifications for a law enforcement officer making a false accusation and wrongfully interrogating someone for a crime they did not commit, especially to consider them a suspect for over 6 years.

Short answer--probably not. If she's serious she should talk to a lawyer in her state to be sure, but in most states in order to bring a wrongful prosecution suit the DA must have taken the matter to criminal trial and LOST. On top of that you typically have to show something more than ordinary negligence. Also, if the investigating jackboots went too far and violated any of her civil rights she might have a 1983 claim under federal law.

But typically just being grilled by the detectives and followed by the cops does not give rise to squat. The cops are absolutely allowed to lie to you, verbally abuse you and defame you at will. Now if a newspaper joined in the defamation, she might have a claim against them. But the state and its agents are usually held harmless. She should check with a lawyer and have them go over all the details to see if there are options, but she's probably SOL as far as briging any kind of justice to the goons with badges. There is one law for us, and another for them.

 

[Northslope Nimrod]

Agree.....Probably not. There is a strong policy to give law enforcement plenty of leeway. They often will grill suspects and later find them to be innocent. If the police officer or agency was at risk of liability after the fact, officers would be hesitant to aggressively seek out defendants, obtain confessions, seek out co-conspirators, etc. This does not rise to a wrongful prosecution case in my opinion. Sorry about what happened though.

 

[Oldtimer]

I'll also PM you, for your girlfriend MIGHT still be a "person of interest" in the mind of the police.

 

[Rockstar]

but in most states in order to bring a wrongful prosecution suit the DA must have taken the matter to criminal trial and LOST.

Patently bad information. Not even a reasonable guess.

 

[Wiley]

Remember Richard Jewel? Atlanta Olympic Park bombings?

He got to sue the MSM and that was about it.

 

[Firethorn]

Agree.....Probably not. There is a strong policy to give law enforcement plenty of leeway. They often will grill suspects and later find them to be innocent. If the police officer or agency was at risk of liability after the fact, officers would be hesitant to aggressively seek out defendants, obtain confessions, seek out co-conspirators, etc. This does not rise to a wrongful prosecution case in my opinion. Sorry about what happened though.

+1

Pretty much, unless your friend can show deliberate malice/harrasment(of a sexual nature) by officers in pursuing her, she's not going to be able to get anywhere in a suit.

Look at it like a self-defense shooting situation. Properly done, the shooter is going to get grilled about what happened during the incident, and for a period of time before that. Then the police will look at the evidence they've collected (including results of said questioning), and decide whether or not to charge him or her. If they do(or have a policy to always kick it up), it goes to the prosecuter, who'll decide whether or not to go ahead with prosecution. It goes before a grand jury. Then to trial. Let's say that it was either a iffy self defense shooting, or a liberal area, but it made it all the way to trial before he's found innocent.

Can he sue for false arrest? Yeah, but will he get anywhere? Likely not. By the very nature of the multiple steps and agencies it has to go through, it raises the idea that the system had a reasonable certainty that he'd have been found guilty.

 

[Devonai]

Maybe I've watched too many episodes of Law and Order in the past. It seems to me that murder suspects will always catch a certain amount of heat. I'm not sure how a DA could effectively do his job without causing some mental distress on the accused. There's no nice way to say "I think you killed someone."

Now if there was no evidence or a very tenuous case against her, and the DA was simply pushing too hard to try and intimidate a confession, then I'd say you might have a case.

 

[Erich]

Chances are that sovereign immunity would make it impossible to collect unless the authorities were operating way outside their statutory roles.

I hope the hearing today is cathartic for her.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

My question (well, actually her's) is this: Is there any legal ramifications for a law enforcement officer making a false accusation and wrongfully interrogating someone for a crime they did not commit, especially to consider them a suspect for over 6 years.

In a word ... No.

Not unless she can prove that he delberately ignored exculpatory evidence.

 

[Trebor]

Talk to a lawyer. Not online, but face to face.

My gut instinct is that if she was never actually charged, there isn't much she can do to the police about being a suspect. I'm not an attorney and this is not legal advice though. Talk to a lawyer.

 

[one45auto]

I was falsely accused myself as a teenager, though fortunately not of homocide. Quite frankly I view both the police and the justice system as being the same as working around heavy machinery with long hair or loose clothing - get too close and you could accidentally be sucked in and injured. That's why I stay as far away from both as humanly possible.

Police want to make arrests to show they're fighting crime and DA's want to get convictions to pad their resumes for mayor, governor, or senator. Guilt or innocence is often totally irrelevant in that game.

 

[trueblue1776]

Quite frankly I view both the police and the justice system as being the same as working around heavy machinery with long hair or loose clothing - get too close and you could accidentally be sucked in and injured. That's why I stay as far away from both as humanly possible.

a true classic

 

[CAS700850]

+1 to what Trebor said, and I am an attorney.