The murder of a retired police officer occurred across the state line in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

According to NPR, “the principal witness was 16-year-old Kevin Hughes, who had a criminal record, and after being arrested in a stolen car… Hughes implicated Harrington and McGhee, but his eyewitness account was riddled with errors.”

David Richter, the county prosecutor, was facing an election at the time and just wanted the case wrapped up.

“He has an unsolved murder, something that is hardly standard fare in Council Bluffs, Iowa,” said former Bush administration Solicitor General Paul Clement reported by NPR, “He had the perfect suspects, if he could tag the murder to a couple of young African-American teenagers from across the state line.”
Harrington and McGhee went to prison.

While there, Harrington began “a friendship with the prison barber, who petitioned for the police records in his case,” this reported by NPR.

The records revealed that the police and prosecutors withheld evidence about another suspect who was seen near the scene of the crime with a shotgun. Police and prosecutors gave up on this suspect because they already had two.

From the NPR article, Clement says, “So the bottom line is essentially that police and prosecutors at some point in this case stopped looking for the real killer, the real suspect and decided it would be far easier to get an eyewitness account that said to a moral certainty that the two African-American youths from across the state line have committed this crime.”

Harrington was released from prison in 2003 after he petitioned the Iowa Supreme Court. According to NPR, Iowa has no compensation for their wrongful time spent in prison.

“Harrington and McGhee sued the prosecutors and the police under a federal civil rights law for violation of their constitutional rights,” according to NPR.

The Supreme Court said that prosecutors are immune from suit for anything they do in trial, but are prosecutors immune from their investigation? According to NPR the prosecutors interviewed witnesses with police and gathered evidence.

According to NPR, “Clement, the lawyer for Harrington and McGhee [said] the prosecutorial immunity at trial doesn’t wash back and launder a frame at the investigative stage.”

With conspiracy, cover-ups and a several lies, how can the prosecutors not be liable for their actions in the past? Should prosecutors be able to be sued for their actions outside of the courtroom?

“The Supreme Court will decide,” according to NPR.