Opinion ID: 600370
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The position of Mr. Arkebauer

Text: 30 As one might expect, Mr. Arkebauer's position tracks, in large measure, the opinion of the district court. Mr. Arkebauer contends that the pendency of the criminal charge against him, despite the assurances of the Macon County State's Attorney, constitutes the threat of great and irreparable injury that justifies the use of the federal injunctive power despite the strictures of Younger. Having been granted absolute immunity from prosecution, he is entitled, he submits, to be free not only from the possibility of loss of liberty in the case of conviction but also from the anxiety, fear, frustration and expense of being prosecuted. Appellee's Br. at 17. It is, he continues, the very prosecution that jeopardizes [his] due process rights. Id. He stresses that this court has emphatically stated that any agreement made by the government, including a grant of immunity from prosecution, must be scrupulously performed and kept. United States v. Brimberry, 744 F.2d 580, 587 (7th Cir.1984) (quoting United States v. Lyons, 670 F.2d 77, 80 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1136, 102 S.Ct. 2965, 73 L.Ed.2d 1354 (1982)), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1039, 107 S.Ct. 1977, 95 L.Ed.2d 817 (1987). The mere suppression of his statements, he argues, does not give him the benefit of his bargain with the government--freedom from prosecution through transactional, not use, immunity. 31 The prosecution is not only being brought in bad faith, continues Mr. Arkebauer, but it also constitutes extraordinary circumstances as that term is used in Younger. Relying on Judge Thornberry's concurring opinion in Rowe, Mr. Arkebauer submits that the injunction is necessary not only to protect what the Illinois Appellate Court deemed to be his objectively reasonable expectations but also to protect his actual subjective expectations. Public policy concerns, he suggests, also support the enforcement of his bargain because promises of immunity are important weapons in the fight against crime. See Palumbo, 897 F.2d at 246. II