SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Police in California don’t seem to be immune from civil court cases for misconduct that occurs whilst they examine crimes, the state Supreme Court dominated this week, overruling a precedent made by way of decrease courts that had helped give protection to regulation enforcement from litigation for many years.
The justices on Thursday unanimously rejected an issue by way of Riverside County that its sheriff’s deputies could not be sued for leaving a person’s bare frame mendacity in undeniable sight for 8 hours whilst officials investigated his killing.
California regulation protects police from being sued for any hurt that occurs all through a prosecution procedure — although the officer acted “maliciously and without probable cause.” Now, the Supreme Court says police can also be sued for misconduct all through investigations.
The ruling cites earlier case regulation that outlined investigatory movements as the ones prior to fees are filed.
“The potential for factual overlap between investigations and prosecutions does not justify treating them as one and the same,” Justice Leondra Kruger wrote in the ruling.
Kruger famous the court issued a equivalent ruling in 1974. But in 1994, a state appeals court followed a broader interpretation to protect police from court cases stemming from habits all through investigations. Lower courts had been depending on that ruling to brush aside misconduct court cases towards regulation enforcement that didn’t contain prosecutions.
A legal professional representing Riverside County in the case didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Friday.
This explicit case targeted on Jose Leon, who used to be shot and killed by way of a neighbor in 2017 southeast of Los Angeles in Riverside County. Shortly after sheriff’s deputies arrived on the capturing, they heard a number of gunshots within sight and dragged Leon’s frame at the back of a police car, inflicting his pants to crumple and exposing his genitals, consistent with the lawsuit. His spouse Dora Leon sued the county for negligence and emotional misery, announcing police had left her husband’s bare frame in undeniable view for hours. The case used to be disregarded by way of decrease courts that dominated state regulation supplies immunity to regulation enforcement officials and companies for police habits all through investigations.
The Supreme Court reinstated Dora Leon’s lawsuit. Kruger wrote that the decrease courts’ resolution used to be fallacious, announcing police investigations can’t be interpreted as a part of the prosecution procedure.
Many native police departments have robotically argued that they’re immune from injury claims “the moment a police officer arrives on the scene of a crime,” mentioned Richard Antognini, a legal professional representing Leon.
If the Supreme Court had dominated in want of the county, “it would have essentially immunized them for almost anything,” he mentioned.
The fresh ruling is helping take away a drawback for sufferers in search of damages from police misconduct, Antognini mentioned. California regulations nonetheless supply immunity to certain sides of police investigations.
The ruling used to be praised by way of John Burris, a California civil rights legal professional who has represented greater than 1,000 sufferers of police misconduct around the nation.
“This should have a positive impact on police reform, because now the law has spoken,” Burris mentioned. “Police should be trained and be better informed as to what their obligations are.”
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Associated Press author Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to the document.
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