Bruce Lisker v. City of Los Angeles

Plaintiff Bruce Lisker was convicted of second-degree murder, served over twenty-six years in custody, and was released in 2009 after a federal judge determined falsified evidence had been introduced at trial and conditionally granted a writ of habeas corpus. The State then dismissed the charges against Lisker.

In this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action, Lisker seeks damages from two Los Angeles Police Department detectives for fabricating reports, investigative notes, and photographs of the crime scene during the homicide investigation. The detectives also testified during preliminary proceedings and at trial, and the issue before us is whether the doctrine of absolute "witness immunity, which shields the detectives from suit for their testimony, also extends to their pretrial actions. We hold that it does not.

I.

A.

Dorka Lisker was murdered in her home in Sherman Oaks, California sometime during the morning of March 10, 1983. She was stabbed multiple times in the back and suffered a blow to the head. Dorka’s seventeen-year-old son Bruce was at the house when paramedics and police officers arrived. He was taken to the Van Nuys station, where he was interviewed by Detective…