Dirty Mount Vernon Cops Lead To Convictions Vacated
Following a two year investigation, the Westchester County District Attorney's conviction integrity unit, has decided that it has to vacate 26 different convictions because of dirty Mount Vernon cops. Appearently several Mount Vernon cops were in cohots with drug dealers and were actually gaurding the drug dealers operations, and were planting drugs on innocent people and arresting them and even beating up innocent people and falsely arrested them for resisting arrest. To make matters worse, the Westchester County District Attorney's office looked the other way, by withholding information that these people were innocent and that the cops were dirty, while they simultaneoulsy prosecuted these people. This is an outrageous distortion of the public safety and criminal justice functions of our government and the individuals that were falsey arrested and wrongfully prosecuted were playing into a stacked deck the entire time.
So what are the rights of the people who were set up on false charges? Our Westchester police misconduct lawyers know that there are numerous remedies under which a person can sue, both under New York State law, and Federal Law under 42 USC 1983, which provides a federal cause of action for violations of a person's constitutional rights.
FALSE ARREST
One of the questions that our Westchester and NYC false arrest lawyers are asked is "can I sue for false arrest?" To answer this question, we first need to explain what is a false arrest. A false arrest occurs when the police arrest someone without probable cause to believe that they committed a crime. It is important to remember that a person can be factually innocent, but there can still be probable cause for an arrest. Often the cases where these cases succeed is where officers lie and claim that the person did things that they didn't do to justify an unlawful search or the excessive use of force. It is also important to note that while a false arrest case is one viable cause of action, it only covers the time period from when a person is detained until when they are arrained. The reason for that is if a Judge sets bail, and a person is incarcerated, the arrest is no longer what is cauing the detention, now the person is held on bail, so to recover damages for incarceration past the arriagnment, a Plaintiff needs to pursue either a malicious prosecution case or a Due Process violation, depending on the facts of the particular case. Another important factor to remember is that for a state false arrest case, a notice of claim must be served within 90 days of the arrest, not from when the case is dismissed. It is counter-intuitive, but to bring a state law false arrest case in which the municipality has a right to hold a hearing and question the person asserting the claim, the notice of claim has to be filed while the case is still pending. However, a false arrest case under Federal law, has no notice of claim requirement and has a three year statute of limitations.
MALICIOUS PROSECUTION
You can sue for malicious prosecution if the officers lied, fabricated evidence against you, or withheld evidence that tended to show that you were not guilty. In general to prove a malicious prosection claim, a Plaintiff needs to prove that a criminal case was initiated against him or continued, without probable caues to believe that it can succeed, and that the prosecution was begun with malice and that the charges were resolved in your favor. Just because you are innocent and were prosecuted or even convicted and spent time in jail for a crime that you did not commit that is not enough. Also if you were really guilty but beat the case on a technicality, that is not enough. You still have to show a lack of probable cause to believe that the prosecution could succeed. In the case of Mount Vernon, where officers are actively planting drugs on people to arrest them, that is sufficient to establish a lack of probable cause because a wrongfully prosecuted person can show that probable cause was lacking where the officers fabricated evidence to wrongfulluy create the appearance of probable cause.
DUE PROCESS CLAUSE
The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of liberty without Due Process of Law. Due Process of law obviously requires at a minimum a fair presentation of the facts against an person accused of a crime. Where officers fabricate evidence to prosecute innocent people, that is a gross violation of the individual's rights under the Due Process clause. In the case of Mount Vernon, officers were actively planting evidence on indiviudals who were innocent of what they were being arrested and charged with. The individuals who were falsely arreseted and prosecuted based upon fabricated evidence can sue for violations of the Due Process clause.
THE LAW
Both New York State law and Federal Law under 42 USC 1983, provide remedies for false arrest and malicious prosecution. New York state law allows people to sue under New York State law for false arrest and malicious prosectution. However, there are more stringent time line requirements, under New York law, which requires that a notice of claim be filed, which for false arrest, must be filed within 90 days of the arrest and for malicious prosecution must be served within 90 days of the termination of the prosecution. The realities of the criminal process often frustrate the innocent person's ability to sue because the criminal charge is often still pending while the notice of claim must be filed, which conflicts with the accused Fifth Amendment rights. Also for false arrest under New York state law, the statute of limitations is a year and ninety days, which runs from the date of the arrest, however, criminal prosecutions in New York can last years. Under the Federal Law 42 USC 1983, a person who has been deprived of their civil rights and liberties can sue for violations, which includes false arrest, malicious prosecution and due process violations. Under federal law, there is no notice of claim requirement and a three year statute of limitations.