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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

Cox supports absolute immunity for prosecutors who break the law

By Ed Brayton | 09.29.09 | 7:23 am

With the U.S. Supreme Court set to begin a new term on the traditional first Monday in October, one case they will hear this fall involves a prosecutor who was found to have coerced testimony and withheld evidence of a suspect’s innocence, resulting in an innocent man being sent to prison for 25 years.

In that case, Pottawattamie County v McGhee, the prosecutor claims to have absolutely immunity from any civil suit even if it can be proven that he intentionally falsified or withheld evidence in the case. And Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox agrees, having joined 26 other state attorneys general in filing a brief (PDF) in support of that position.

This isn’t just qualified immunity Cox and the other AGs are arguing for. Most public officials have qualified immunity, which means that they can’t be sued personally for actions taken in the course of their public duties unless it can be shown that they willfully violated someone’s “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.” 90% of the time, qualified immunity is enough to prevent suits against public officials. It’s a fairly high standard to meet.

Nor are they arguing that prosecutors should only be held accountable for wrongful convictions if it can be proven that they proactively and intentionally created false evidence or violated the clear legal and ethical requirements of their position. That would distinguish between wrongful convictions that happen as a result of sincere belief or misinterpretation of the evidence and those that happen as a result of willful misconduct.

But here, they are arguing for absolute immunity, for the idea that no prosecutor could ever be sued under any circumstances even if it can be proven conclusively that they intentionally faked evidence and lied to the court, destroying the life of an innocent person. It seems rather convenient that one group of public officials with prosecutorial power thinks public officials with prosecutorial power should have be allowed to evade responsibility for their own illegal and unjust actions.

Unfortunately, Cox and the other attorneys general are not alone. The Obama administration has also filed a brief in support of absolute immunity.

Comments

  • DougDante

    Of course Cox supports absolute immunity for prosecutors who break the law. Given the evidence that some local FOCs have been illegally applying automatic imputation for over a decade, and the evidence that there is a pattern of fraud in calculating child support in at least on major Michigan county, evidence that some local courts may be tampering with court recordings and transcripts, it's only a matter of time before prosecutors working for Cox who have convicted and continue to convict “deadbeats” based on that evidence will become, or sadly, may have already become, aware that they may have prosecuted parents primary because they were victims of Title IV-D motivated crimes.

  • joemaflage

    Right on Doug it is time we hold the justice system responcible to the people. there is no justice in the system now just imagine if they get absolute immunity. I have heard that once the people lose faith in the system it can not function properly. I think we need to use the power of jury nullification and just go in saying NOT Guilty to all cases until the system is fixed. The courts have a conflict of interest in every case that goes before them. They are funded based on negative outcomes

  • joemaflage

    We need to boot Cox out of any office he runs for in the future.
    http://www.myspace.com/familyrights

  • pcl

    This is the kind of thing one might expect from the likes of Clarence Thomas or Dick Cheney, but it will be a surprise to some that the “liberals” are just as bad, especially if they're not familiar with the likes of Scott Harshbarger, Mike Nifong or Janet Reno. I wonder if Cox and the Obama administration also support giving prosecutors immunity from criminal prosecution.

  • pcl

    This is the kind of thing one might expect from the likes of Clarence Thomas or Dick Cheney, but it will be a surprise to some that the “liberals” are just as bad, especially if they're not familiar with the likes of Scott Harshbarger, Mike Nifong or Janet Reno. I wonder if Cox and the Obama administration also support giving prosecutors immunity from criminal prosecution.

  • pcl

    This is the kind of thing one might expect from the likes of Clarence Thomas or Dick Cheney, but it will be a surprise to some that the “liberals” are just as bad, especially if they're not familiar with the likes of Scott Harshbarger, Mike Nifong or Janet Reno. I wonder if Cox and the Obama administration also support giving prosecutors immunity from criminal prosecution.

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