Holding Prosecutors Accountable for Illegal Practices in Orleans Parish

Horton v. Rangos. In 2022, we filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of individuals detained at Allegheny County Jail against three Allegheny County judges, as well as other county, jail, and probation department officials.

Civil Rights Corps v. LaSalle. In response to the filing of the first Accountability NY complaints in 2021, NYC Corporate Counsel sent a letter to the Grievance Committees claiming that the professors had engaged in “misuse and indeed abuse of the grievance process" that "should not be countenanced.” In November 2021, we filed a federal lawsuit and won a big victory for transparency in June 2022, when the court granted our motion for partial summary judgment.

Civil Rights Corps worked with an amazing group of organizers at Silicon Valley De-Bug and law professor Lara Bazelon on an ethics complaint alleging judicial misconduct in San Mateo County, California. The complaint, citing court transcripts, court watchers’ observations, and local and statewide reports, was filed in August 2024, alleging that multiple judges and judicial […]

Harrington v. Lancaster. In January 2024, Civil Rights Corps filed a federal lawsuit against three members of the Harris County Constables, Precinct 2 on behalf of Harris County resident Tyler Harrington. The complaint alleges that officers James Lancaster, Nathaniel Cano, and Jared Lindsay conducted a warrantless no-knock entry into Mr. Harrington’s home in the middle of the night and held him at gunpoint. The complaint raises several claims against the defendants, including violations of the Fourth Amendment for unlawful entry, unlawful search, unlawful seizure, and excessive force.

Lewis v. District of Columbia. Our lawsuit alleges that, on two separate occasions, Malaika Lewis and her minor daughter, N.L., were subjected to horrendous treatment at the hands of police officers. After Ms. Lewis contacted police for help locating her older daughter, the lawsuit alleges that police officers separated Ms. Lewis from her younger daughter, N.L., for hours while attempting to illegally search her apartment based on one officer's unfounded hunch that she was somehow hiding a boyfriend who had committed an unspecified crime.

Millet v District of Columbia. In March of 2023, CRC brought suit on behalf of David Millet against the District of Columbia, Metropolitan Department Police Officer Peter Apollon, three John Doe Special Police Officers, Special Police Officer (SPO) Darrell Harris, Jr., and Security Assurance Management, Inc.

Jackson v. District of Columbia. In 2023, we filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia and two Metropolitan Police Department Officers alleging that MPD officer seized and arrested Mr. Jackson without probable cause within seconds of approaching him on a sidewalk, assaulted him during the arrest, and then jailed Mr. Jackson for over 24 hours.

Prosecutors are some of the most powerful lawyers and are only rarely held accountable for professional misconduct. In New York, journalists have documented dozens of court findings of prosecutorial misconduct with no consequence. The New York Times Editorial Board wrote in 2018, “there’s no reliable system for holding prosecutors accountable for their misconduct, and they certainly can’t be entrusted with policing themselves.”

Hudson v. Montgomery County. In early February 2020, Plaintiff Keisha Hudson, who was then Deputy Chief Public Defender for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, directed the filing of an amicus brief challenging the money bail system. Later that month, Hudson was fired from her job. CRC and partners filed a lawsuit on Hudson’s behalf that alleged that she was fired in retaliation for the amicus brief, thereby violating her First Amendment rights.