Prosecutor Not Absolutely Immune From Sec. 1983 Suit

Mink v. Suthers, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 1113951 (10th Cir. April 16, 2007)

Damages claim under Sec. 1983 brought by student editor of internet journal which parodied a professor, against the assistant district attorney who, at the behest of the maligned professor (who claimed the student violated a Colorado criminal libel statute), seized and searched the student’s computer was not barred by absolute prosecutorial immunity. Absolute immunity does not extend to those aspects of the prosecutor's responsibility that cast him in the role of an administrator or investigative officer rather than that of advocate, and in preparing the search warrant the prosecutor was acting in this case more in the role of an administrator. (Also, P’s challenge to the facial unconstitutionality of the libel statute was moot and he had no standing because the state from the outset declined to prosecute, and he did not raise a proper claim under the Privacy Protection Act).