PRECEDENTIAL

       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, 

, 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