The Baez Law Firm | San Antonio Lawyers and Attorneys

The Baez Law Firm | San Antonio Lawyers and Attorneys
San Antonio Lawyers and Attorneys

Friday, August 26, 2011

Can a cop abuse his power?

In order to prevail in Federal Court against unethical, immoral or even abusive cops, you have to prove that an action occurred while the cop was acting "under color of law." This is particularly true when a cop uses his position of authority to obtain sexual pleasure against innocent civilians.

In Texas, many cops use that position of authority but get away with sexually assaulting civilians because their police departments will say that "the cops were not acting under color of law," since the police department did not hire them to have sex while on duty and because of "qualified immunity." Case close. Victory for the crooked cop...Not so fast!

The Fifth Circuit recently ruled on a case specifically about the abuse of power by a person clothed with such powers. The case of U.S. v. Dillon, 532 F.3d 379 (5th Cir. 2008) dealt specifically with that issue. A former city attorney used his position of authority to sexually assault women and the city argued that they did not hire the city attorney to have sex but to work as an attorney. The Fifth Circuit saw the confusion and cleared up the mess that Texas once had.

In the finding, the Court reasoned that "An action occurs under color of law, for purpose of statute prohibiting deprivation of civil rights under color of law, when there is misuse of power, possessed by virtue of state law and made possible only because the wrongdoer is clothed with the authority of state law."

The facts of the case were as follows: Defendant, an assistant city attorney (ACA), was acting under color of law when he sexually assaulted two women, as required to support his convictions for depriving the women of their right to bodily integrity under color of law; one woman came to his office to have her traffic tickets fixed and her son released from jail, and, after he placed a call to judge who ultimately paroled the woman's son, defendant proceeded to kiss her and when she resisted he told her that he knew a lot of police officers and that he could have anybody arrested, and the second woman came to defendant's office to receive a drug test so she could have her pending marijuana charge dismissed, but defendant, before sexually assaulting her, told her that nobody would believe her if she reported him because she had a lewd conduct charge on her record, and thereafter warned her not to tell anyone about the assault or he would come after her and her family.

We believe that every person has a right against having anyone, including cops, from violating that person's right to bodily integrity. No person clothed with power should ever use his position of power to obtain sex while on duty. It is wrong and it should be punished.

Our law firm helps people throughout Texas that have been abused by police. You are not alone anymore! Our lawyers will fight for your rights so you don't have to.

Our law firm helps people in all areas of law including family, business, personal injury, bankruptcy appeals, medical malpractice, criminal law, and other areas of law. We also have a divorce website to help the people in Texas that cannot afford a lawyer.





1 comment:

Rozer Struart said...

Cop usually abuse their power because their department never reveal these type of activities. When some one try make a complaint against any cop, he will go to some cop only and they try to hide and thing go on. They must take strict action so these type of activity will not be repeated.
Chicago Federal Criminal Lawyer

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