071453P.pdf   11/21/2008  Curtis McGhee, Jr.  v.  Pottawattamie County
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  07-1453
                          and No:  07-1524
   U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines   
   [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Tashima and Smith, Circuit Judges]
   Civil case - civil rights. Defendants' claim that they were entitled to
   absolute immunity for their role in plaintiffs' arrest because they had
   probable cause to believe the plaintiffs were involved in another crime
   was not properly raised before the trial court and would not be considered
   on appeal; district court erred in ruling defendant prosecutors were not
   entitled to sovereign immunity and the issue must be remanded for
   further determination as to whether they were acting within the scope of
   their duties as county attorneys when they took investigatory actions
   before filing a True Information charging the plaintiffs with murder;
   defendant Wilber was acting within the scope of his official capacity as
   County Attorney and was entitled to qualified immunity under Iowa law
   on plaintiff McGhee's claims Wilber defamed him in comments made at
   the time of McGhee's release; immunity does not extend to the action of
   a county attorney who violates a person's due process rights by obtaining,
   coercing and manufacturing evidence before filing a formal charges, and
   defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity for their actions
   before they filed charges against plaintiffs.
  
071453P.pdf   02/01/2008  Curtis McGhee, Jr.  v.  Pottawattamie County
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  07-1453
                          and No:  07-1524
   U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines   
   [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Tashima and Smith, Circuit
   Judges]
   Civil case - civil rights. District court did not err in finding defendant
   prosecutors were not entitled to sovereign immunity as the actions in
   question were investigatory activities taken before plaintiffs were charged
   with crimes and fell outside the defendants' duties as prosecutors; district
   court erred as a matter of law in denying defendant Wilber's motion for
   summary judgment on plaintiff's defamation claim as the claim is
   governed by the Iowa Tort Claims Act which explicitly bars such a claim;
   district court did not err in finding immunity does not extend to the
   actions of a County Attorney who violates a person's substantive due
   process rights by obtaining, manufacturing, coercing and fabricating
   evidence before formal charges are filed.