UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ______________

No. 19-1066 ______________

LEWIS JAMES FOGLE

v.

JOHN SOKOL, Pennsylvania State Trooper; MICHAEL STEFFEE, Pennsylvania State Trooper; DONALD BECHWITH, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper; JOSEPH STEPHEN, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper; JOHN BARDROFF, Corporal; ANDREW MOLLURA, Corporal; GLENN WALP, Lieutenant, in their individual capacities; COUNTY OF INDIANA, PENNSYLVANIA; GREGORY OLSON, Indiana County District Attorney, in his official and individual capacity; WILLIAM MARTIN, Indiana County Assistant District Attorney, in his individual capacity

County of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Gregory Olson and William Martin, Appellants ______________

On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 2-17-cv-00194) District Judge: Hon. David S. Cercone ______________

Argued September 19, 2019

Before: KRAUSE, MATEY, Circuit Judges, and QUIÑONES ALEJANDRO,* District Judge.

(Filed: April 20, 2020)

Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, Esq. Emma K. Freudenberger, Esq. Mary K. McCarthy, Esq. [ARGUED] Peter J. Neufeld, Esq. Neufeld Scheck & Brustin 99 Hudson Street 8th Floor New York, NY 10013 Thomas J. Farrell, Esq. Farrell & Reisinger 300 Koppers Building 436 Seventh Avenue Suite 300 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Attorneys for Plaintiff-Appellee

* Honorable Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, District Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, sitting by designation.

2 Michael E. Kennedy, Esq. Office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania 1251 Waterfront Place Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Attorney for Defendants Donald Bechwith, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper; John Bardroff, Corporal; John Sokol, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper; Andrew Molllura, Corporal; Michael Steffee, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper; and Glenn Walp, Lieutenant, in their individual capacities Marie M. Jones, Esq. [ARGUED] Maria N. Pipak, Esq. Jones Passodelis 707 Grant Street Gulf Tower, Suite 3410 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Attorney for Defendants-Appellants County of Indiana; Gregory Olson, Indiana County District Attorney, in his official and individual capacity; and William Martin, Indiana County Assistant District Attorney, in his individual capacity

3 ______________

OPINION ______________ MATEY, Circuit Judge.

Lewis James Fogle spent more than three decades in prison for a crime he says he did not commit. Now free, he alleges that his incarceration was no accident, sketching a widespread conspiracy by law enforcement officials to violate his civil rights. Implicated in this alleged scheme are former Indiana County District Attorney Gregory Olson, former Indiana County Assistant District Attorney William Martin, and their one-time employer, Indiana County. They all raise the shield of absolute immunity, a judicially created exception to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. But the immunity from civil liability enjoyed by prosecutors hinges on the sanctity of our judicial process, not “any special esteem.” Kalina v. Fletcher, 522U.S.118, 127 (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted). And so only truly prosecutorial functions, not investigative conduct, justify complete protection from suit. Fogle’s complaint alleges acts by Olson and Martin that, taken as true, fall outside the narrow doctrine of absolute immunity and survive a motion to dism