Does a prosecutor have absolute prosecutorial immunity?

This argument is unpersuasive. In analyzing the rational underpinnings of absolute prosecutorial immunity in this context, there is "no meaningful distinction between a decision on prosecution in a single instance and decisions on prosecutions formulated as a policy for general application." Haynesworth v. Miller, 820 F.2d 1245, 1269 (D.C.Cir.1987). "Both practices involve a balancing of myriad factors, including culpability, prosecutorial resources and public interests" and "both procedures culminate in initiation of criminal proceedings against particular

Page 584

In this instance, the prosecutors allege that Roe is not a credible witness. They do not believe they can prosecute his cases without corroborating evidence in good conscience or with a reasonable expectation of winning a conviction. Whether their assessment is accurate or not is immaterial. This kind of witness evaluation falls entirely within a prosecutor's judicial function regardless of whether one case or a line of cases is at issue. Just as a prosecutor's professional evaluation of the evidence assembled by the police is entitled to absolute immunity, Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259, 273, 113 S.Ct. 2606, 2615, 125 L.Ed.2d 209 (1993), a prosecutor's professional evaluation of a witness is entitled to absolute immunity even if that judgment is harsh, unfair or clouded by personal animus, as Roe alleges here.