South Carolina Wrongful Prosecution Lawyers

South Carolina Wrongful Prosecution Attorney

Wrongful prosecutions – sometimes called malicious prosecutions – can have just as devastating an effect on a person’s life as a wrongful conviction.  The reputational damage, the emotional and financial toll, and the loss of confidence in the criminal legal system can be severe.

Litigating a wrongful prosecution to achieve some measure of justice and compensation requires a skilled and experienced team who understand how to conduct a thorough review of a previous criminal investigation– an autopsy to determine exactly what caused the justice system to fail.

Wrongful Prosecution vs. Wrongful Conviction

A wrongful prosecution occurs when a person is arrested and prosecuted for a crime without probable cause.  The case may be dismissed before trial, or the case may go to trial and the person is found not guilty. A wrongful conviction occurs when the person is found guilty and sentenced.

But a dismissal of charges or a not guilty verdict will not repair the damage done during the wrongful prosecution.  The reputational damage and the collateral consequences are innumerable, and the shaken confidence in the criminal legal system is indelible.

The lawyers at Pfeiffer Rudolf have an established track record of successfully representing individuals who have been wrongfully prosecuted. But what sets us apart is that we have been criminal defense lawyers. We have decades of experience on the front lines in criminal cases; we have seen first-hand how the system goes wrong, and why. We know from our own experiences what happens in a criminal case from the inception of an investigation to the charging stage, and all the way through trial.

The statute of limitations for bringing a wrongful prosecution claim in South Carolina is three years.  The clock starts on the day the criminal proceedings are finally terminated in the plaintiff’s favor (i.e. with a dismissal or a not guilty verdict).  If you’ve been wrongfully prosecuted, you have three years to gather evidence and file a claim.  If your claim is not filed within the three year statute of limitation period, no claim can be brought.

Causes of wrongful prosecutions

We know that police officers suffer from tunnel vision – they think they know what happened in a case – and that causes them to engage in confirmation bias  – they ignore or discount the exculpatory facts and put undue weight on the circumstances that support their initial theory – no matter how wrong their theory may be. We see it time and time again.  Ironically, the less real evidence they have of a person’s guilt – because the person is innocent – the more likely they are to engage in misconduct, such as:

• Causing false confessions.
• Pressuring witnesses to make false statements.
• Using suggestive identification procedures.
• Using unreliable forensic evidence – such as hair comparison or blood spatter analysis.
• Offering rewards to informants or witnesses without confirming what they say.
• Failing to interview or credit alibi witnesses.
• Conducting “suspect-based” investigations instead of “fact-based” investigations.
• Engaging in group think.

Concealing exculpatory evidence – Brady material – from prosecutors.

It is possible to recover compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages for wrongful prosecution.  Compensatory damages are meant to address economic and non-economic damages, such as physical injuries, lost wages, pain, and suffering and reputational damage. Punitive damages can be recovered against the government or the government actor who was responsible for the arrest and the subsequent criminal proceedings.

Punitive damages are meant to punish the governmental entity and can be awarded when there is evidence of extreme malice, recklessness, or ill will. The experienced federal civil rights attorneys at Pfeiffer Rudolf will do everything possible to help you recover – both monetarily and psychologically.

Contact us to schedule a consultation.