Rehberg v. Paulk (10-788)
argument 10-788Rehberg v. Paulk
Supreme Court of the United States
59 min
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 4 days ago
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Transcript
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What is a “complaining witness” and how does common law define it?
We'll hear argument first this morning in case ten seven eighty eight, Rayburg versus Polk.
Mr Pincus? Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the court. This court has twice held in Maui and in Kalena that a complaining witness who sets a criminal prosecution in motion by submitting a false affidavit is entitled to qualified immunity but not absolute immunity in an action under section nineteen eighty three. The court rested that conclusion on its determination that complaining witnesses were subject to damages liability at common law when Section in eighteen seventy one when Section nineteen eighty three was enacted. question in this case is whether the rule of Malle and Kalena also applies to a complaining witness who sets a prosecution in motion by testifying before a grand jury.
Again, the common law provides the answer. The law is clear that in eighteen seventy one damages liability could be based on false grand jury testimony.
The problem I have with your argument is that I don't really know what a complaining witness is in the grand jury context. Let's take the Federal grand jury as an example. Do you think there are complaining witnesses before Federal grand juries?
I think there there there can be. It depends obviously on the the circumstances, Your Honor, but but there certainly can be.
I mean a complaining witness, I would think, is a person who files a complaint, who causes so under the federal system it would be someone who files a complaint and attests to it under Rule Five. That person is asking that charges be brought. That's what it means to be a complaining witness filing a complaint. Nobody, no witness before a federal grand jury asks that an indictment be returned, they provide testimony. And they may want an indictment to be returned, but it's the prosecutor who asks for the indictment to be returned. So I don't see how there is a complaining witness in that sense in the traditional grand jury context.
Well, Your Honor, the common law confronted precisely the same situation. And uh after public prosecutors came into being and when grand juries uh were impaneled by them, the common law has concluded uh that both in eighteen seventy one and in the present that there can be a person who is the motivating force behind the prosecution. A person? What
what if you have three elements to a crime and you have one witness for each one. You see somebody sees the guy trying to get into a car. Well, maybe he left his maybe he locked his keys in. Another sees the guy walking around with the television. It might be his. Third sees the guy selling the television to somebody else. There is nothing wrong with that. Each one testifies before the grand jury. Who's the complaining witness?
Well, Your Honor, uh uh at common law, uh the complaining witness was more than just someone who gave evidence uh that was necessary for the warrant or the indictment to issue. It was someone who was pushing uh for the prosecution to be brought. Uh all of these problems, of course, occur to common law and they they also occur uh in connection uh With the circumstances that the court addressed in Mali and
Well let me give you another example that I think happens with some frequency. You have a federal grand jury and you have testimony by an FBI or a DEA case agent, the person who's been working on the case, and that witness provides a lot of information supporting the charges that the prosecutor wants returned. You also have a cooperating witness, someone who's entered into a plea bargain, and in exchange for that is providing a lot of encouragement. discriminating testimony. Now is there a complaining witness in that situation?
Well again, Your Honor, there there can be. It depends. It it could be both. It could be one or it it could be it could be one or the other. I I think these these uh circumstances again are not uh unknown to the common law in the States.
You said I think he used the word the one who motivated the charge. Or something to that effect. And I'm I'm looking at the Complaint.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is a “complaining witness” and how does common law define it?
0:01–6:53
2
How does the Court apply the Mali and Kalena rule to grand‑jury testimony?
6:53–13:57
3
When can a grand‑jury witness be considered the “prime mover” of a prosecution?
13:57–21:08
4
Does a subpoenaed grand‑jury witness lose “complaining‑witness” status?
21:08–27:50
5
Can a prosecutor be sued for malicious prosecution under §1983?
27:50–36:28
6
What evidence, besides grand‑jury testimony, can support a malicious‑prosecution claim?
36:28–45:23
7
How do the courts distinguish immunity for witnesses in arrest‑warrant versus grand‑jury contexts?
45:23–53:01
8
What is the Supreme Court’s likely ruling on vacating and remanding this case?
53:01–1:00:10