Opinion ID: 493669
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prosecutors

Text: 11 The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Mayo and Eggers on the ground that, as prosecutors, they enjoyed absolute immunity from suit. McCarthy contends that this was error. They acted without authority, McCarthy argues, because their appointments as Special Deputy Attorneys General violated state and federal law. McCarthy also contends that public policy requires a bad faith exception to absolute prosecutorial immunity. 12 A prosecutor is entitled to absolute immunity for quasi-judicial actions taken within the scope of his authority. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976); Ashelman v. Pope, 793 F.2d 1072, 1076 (9th Cir.1986) (en banc). To determine whether an act is quasi-judicial and whether it is within a prosecutor's authority, we look to the nature or function of the ultimate act. Ashelman, 793 F.2d at 1076-78; Ybarra v. Reno Thunderbird Mobile Home Village, 723 F.2d 675, 678 (9th Cir.1984); see also Lerwill v. Joslin, 712 F.2d 435 (10th Cir.1983) (Authority does not rest on technicalities of local law; the issue is whether the prosecutor is arguably empowered to perform the act). 13 McCarthy argues that the appointments of Mayo and Eggers as Special Deputy Attorneys General for the State of Hawaii violated the statutes providing for such appointments because they received too much compensation. He concludes that any actions they took were ipso facto without authority, and thus they cannot claim immunity. McCarthy failed to raise the issue in the district court and has given no reason for that failure. We reject his argument. Even if overpayment did eviscerate actual authority, it would not affect the prosecutors' apparent authority. A prosecutor only loses absolute immunity when his actions are clearly outside the scope of his authority. See Ashelman, 793 F.2d at 1077-78; see also Lerwill v. Joslin, 712 F.2d 435 (10th Cir.1983) (immunity not lost by technical violation of scope of authority where it reasonably appeared prosecutor was authorized to bring action). 14 Mayo and Eggers thus enjoy absolute immunity. See Ashelman, 793 F.2d at 1076. To hold otherwise would require a prosecutor to be concerned about the technicalities of his appointment and, consequently, could interfere with his exercise of independent judgment, a problem prosecutorial immunity was designed to alleviate. See Imbler, 424 U.S. at 423, 96 S.Ct. at 991. 15 McCarthy also contends that public policy requires an exception to absolute prosecutorial immunity because of the egregious nature of this case. He contends that the prosecutors filed criminal charges knowing that the statute of limitations had run. We reject this argument. The intent of the prosecutor when performing prosecutorial acts plays no role in the immunity inquiry. Ashelman, 793 F.2d at 1078. [A]llegations that a conspiracy produced a certain decision should no more pierce the actor's immunity than allegations of bad faith, personal interest or outright malevolence. Id. (emphasis added).