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David Christopher Hesse v. Jason Kane Howell

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Texas, Seventh District, No. 07-16-00453-CV · judgment June 7, 2018


Certiorari denied · February 19, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

  1. Are acting as a witness by swearing to facts, abusing process and committing crimes, acts that are foreign to the duties of a prosecutor? If so, is that prosecutor entitled to any immunity for those acts when they result in the wrongful attachment and incarceration of an individual?

  2. Can Chapter 27, Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code (Anti-SLAPP), preclude a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit against a prosecutor who, during the pendency of a contempt proceeding that he did not initiate, falsely swears to facts in an Application for Writ of Attachment, resulting in the attachment and arrest of a person who was never served with the Notice to Appear?

  3. When a prosecutor commits felony and misdemeanor crimes in order to cause someone’s false arrest, is that prosecutor entitled to absolute prosecutorial immunity or even to attorney immunity?

  4. Can conduct by persons acting under color of state law, which is wrongful under § 1983, be immunized by state law even though the federal cause of action is being asserted in state court?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Leonard Thomas Bradt
L.T. BRADT, P.C.

For respondent
C. Scott Brumley
Potter Cnty. Atty.'s Office

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Feb 19 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jan 30 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/15/2019.
  3. Jan 22 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Jason Kane Howell to respond filed.
  4. Jan 15 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 19, 2019)