Appeals

Supreme Court to Review Fifth Circuit Decision

Partner Philp Savrin, with the assistance of partners Michael Freed, Christian Foy Nagy, and Elissa Haynes, authored a petition to the United States Supreme Court section review a decision of the Fifth Court of Appeals…

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Partner Philp Savrin, with the assistance of partners Michael Freed, Christian Foy Nagy, and Elissa Haynes, authored a petition to the United States Supreme Court section review a decision of the Fifth Court of Appeals decision denying absolute immunity to a prosecutor and a detective who were sued for allegedly coercing a witness to provide false testimony at a criminal trial. In the case Wearry v. Foster, 52 F.4th 258 (5th Cir. 2022), a divided Fifth Circuit determined that the activities were investigative in nature as opposed to advancing the prosecution of the case such that the government employees were entitled to qualified instead of absolute immunity. In the petition, the defendants argue that the Fifth Circuit’s decision conflicts with the “functional approach” under which conduct taken after there has been a finding of probable cause is considered advocacy on behalf of the State for which absolute immunity has been traditionally applied. As such, review is being sought by the Supreme Court to resolve a conflict that the Fifth Circuit has created within the decisional law in this area. The case is styled Foster v. Wearry, Case No. 22-857, and has been selected by ScotusBlog.com as a “featured” petition to watch.

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