Opinion ID: 8870
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The District Attorney

Text: 45 Brooks's claims against Earl Koskela, the George County District Attorney, stem from Koskela's failure to provide a copy of the nolle prosequi motion to opposing counsel. Mississippi Uniform Circuit Court Rule 2.01 (1994) required that [a] copy of all subsequent pleadings and motions, including motions for a new trial, shall be delivered in person or by mail to opposing counsel.... 13 Brooks contends that the district attorney's office, through Gary S. Evans, assistant district attorney, violated this rule, leading to his unconstitutional imprisonment for eight months. At the summary judgment phase, the district court dismissed all claims against Koskela in his individual capacity on the basis of prosecutorial immunity and in his official capacity under the Eleventh Amendment on the basis of his status as a state official in Mississippi. We find summary judgment appropriate in this context. 46 This Court is uncertain whether Brooks has even alleged a violation of Rule 2.01. Mr. Evans merely prepared an order of dismissal for the state trial court after acknowledging in open court that the case would not proceed. The district attorney's office had no duty under Rule 2.01 or, as far as we can discern, under any Mississippi law, to provide copies of the court's orders to opposing counsel. 47 Even if one assumed that the procedure resulting in a court order amounted to a motion, Mr. Evans provided notice on or about January 28 or 29, 1991, of the government's intention to seek dismissal to Mr. Brooks's attorney, William T. Bailey, prior to the open court procedure. 14 Thus we are not convinced that if the nolle prosequi procedure was subject to Rule 2.01's requirements that the district attorney's office even violated the rule. 48 Assuming arguendo that the district attorney violated Rule 2.01, we agree with the lower court that Koskela was nonetheless immune from such suit in his official and individual capacities. The district attorney is considered a state official in Mississippi, as the office is primarily state-funded, and the district attorney has the power to represent the state in all judicial proceedings. Chrissy F. by Medley v. Mississippi Dep't of Public Welfare, 925 F.2d 844, 849 (5th Cir.1991). As a state actor, the district attorney is shielded in his official capacity by Eleventh Amendment immunity. Id. No suit against Koskela in his official capacity can be maintained. 49 Koskela is also immune from suit in his individual capacity. Immunity is sustained for acts taken in furtherance of the prosecution of the case; acts which are investigative or administrative do not carry absolute immunity. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 430, 96 S.Ct. 984, 995, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 (1976). Immunity is gauged by the functional activities the prosecutor engaged in and not the status of the defendant. Briscoe v. LaHue, 460 U.S. 325, 342, 103 S.Ct. 1108, 1119, 75 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983). Actions which are related to the judicial process fulfill the prosecutor's advocatory function and are considered absolutely immune from suit. See Marrero v. City of Hialeah, 625 F.2d 499, 505 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied 450 U.S. 913, 101 S.Ct. 1353, 67 L.Ed.2d 337 (1981). 50 In our estimation, the prosecutor's acts through his assistant of requesting that the court enter an order of nolle prosequi of Brooks's criminal charges, of having an order prepared for the court that memorialized the same, and the forwarding of such order to the clerk for filing are all prosecutorial activities intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process. Imbler, 424 U.S. at 430, 96 S.Ct. at 995 (emphasis added). The mere fact that the district attorney's office prepared the court's order for it and forwarded the order does not remove these acts from being intimately associated with the judicial process. Accordingly, we affirm the District Court's holding that Mr. Koskela is immune from suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in both official and individual capacities on all claims brought by Mr. Brooks. 15