High Court Weighs Prosecutors' Immunity : NPR

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The justices of the Supreme Court struggled Wednesday to figure out whether they should allow lawsuits against prosecutors for framing a suspect. Iowa prosecutors, backed by the federal government and prosecutors across the country, contend that there is "no freestanding constitutional right not to be framed."

For most Americans, that's a breathtaking proposition. For Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee, it's more than that.

The men, both African-American, served 25 years of a life term before the Iowa Supreme Court overturned their convictions for murder. The state's highest court said that the key witness against them was a known "liar and perjurer," and that prosecutors had withheld evidence that pointed to a different suspect in the crime. Harrington and McGhee sued, contending that police and prosecutors had worked to frame two teenagers from across the state line, while ignoring good evidence that implicated a white suspect who was the brother-in-law of the local fire chief.

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