Court Opinion

ID: 9455557
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:25:55.640355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:38.589588
License: Public Domain

KILKENNY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting) :
I believe the approach of the majority is wholly unrealistic. On many occasions, in the criminal field, the prosecutor must make a decision on whether he will go forward with the prosecution on the original charge or add another count. On some occasions, he may feel that the overall evidence is somewhat weak, even though he believes there is probable cause for the arrest. If, under these circumstances, the charge is dismissed, some person, including the arresting officer, might well be faced with a civil action, even though there was probable cause for the arrest. Of course, this was true long before the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The latter merely gives to the plaintiff, in some instances, a choice of forums.
The civil rights actions, under state law, include among others, those for false arrest and false imprisonment. It is my firm belief that those in charge of prosecution of criminal actions have a duty to protect, if probable cause exists, arresting officers from both state or federal civil actions. We are not here concerned with a coerced plea of guilty. Appellant had his day in court and was found guilty of resisting arrest. The fact that he was acquitted on the original charge does not signify that there was no probable cause for the arrest. It merely means that the state failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
My thinking processes do not shudder at the portrait of the state judge asking appellant if he would agree to probable cause for the arrest. Many, many exceptionally able trial judges use this procedure to determine the appropriate action to take on the motion to dismiss. If appellant had so stipulated, the judge might well have denied the motion to dismiss. Beyond question, he would have inquired, in depth, of the prosecutor as to the appropriateness of a dismissal under these circumstances. The prosecutor, when appellant refused to agree to probable cause, was well within his rights in asking for a withdrawal of the motion to dismiss. In my view, there is nothing constitutionally objectionable in the district attorney’s statement that it was his duty to include in the complaint *378any offense of which the appellant might be convicted. I am persuaded that the majority has erroneously raised a simple procedural act of the prosecutor to the dignity of constitutional dimensions.
Moreover, I would resolve the other issues against the appellant and affirm the judgment of the district court.