Opinion ID: 473050
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Thompson's Alleged Interrogation of Morrow

Text: 19 The Josephs allege that Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thompson interrogated Morrow while he was in police custody and coerced Morrow into making false statements which supported a later criminal complaint against the Josephs. Appellees contend that interviewing a witness is insulated activity, citing Forsyth in which the Third Circuit stated that granting absolute immunity to a prosecutor's decision to initiate a prosecution while subjecting him to liability for securing information necessary to that decision would be incongruous. 599 F.2d at 1215. However, while recognizing the prosecutor's need and limited right to gather necessary information, the Third Circuit also foresaw that this narrow exception could be distorted to include all of a prosecutor's investigative activities. Id. The court thus determined that summary disposition was inappropriate and that a factual inquiry was necessary to determine whether the securing of information was in furtherance of a decision to initiate prosecution, and was therefore quasi-judicial in nature, or whether it was in the course of supervising or conducting a law enforcement investigation. Id. at 1216. The latter may be fairly characterized not [as] the protected decision to initiate prosecution, but rather the earlier, preliminary gathering of evidence which may blossom into a potential prosecution [and which therefore] is investigatory activity. McSurely, 697 F.2d at 320. We note that prosecutors who supervised and participated in an unconstitutional police interrogation of a criminal suspect were not entitled to absolute immunity in Robichaud, supra, 351 F.2d at 536-37. See also Wilkinson v. Ellis, 484 F.Supp. 1072 (E.D.Pa.1980); and see Rose v. Koch, 465 F.Supp. 1157, 1159 (E.D.N.Y.1979) (which distinguished interviewing witnesses to prepare testimony for proper presentation of the case from factual interviews no different in kind from that of a police officer.) Because there are allegations which could support a finding that Thompson acted in an investigative capacity during the interview, we conclude that summary disposition was inappropriate. Remand is necessary for further development of the record on this issue before the district court can properly determine the nature and intent of the interview and whether absolute immunity should insulate Thompson from liability for this alleged act. 20