Genzler

Plaintiff David Genzler seeks damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of his constitutional rights during the investigation and prosecution of his state criminal homicide trial. Defendants San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Peter Longanbach and Investigator Jeffrey O’Brien appeal from the partial denial of their motions for summary judgment based on absolute official immunity. Defendant supervisors in the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office — District Attorney Paul Pfingst, Assistant District Attorney Gregory Thompson, and Deputy District Attorney James Pippen — appeal the district court’s complete denial of their motion for summary judgment based on absolute and qualified immunity.

We affirm the district court’s partial denial of Longanbach’s and O’Brien’s motions. Evaluating the timing and nature of their conduct, we conclude that there is a genuine issue of material fact about whether they were engaged in advocacy intimately associated with the judicial process when they interviewed a key witness, Sky Blue Flanders. However, we reverse the district court’s denial of the supervisors’ motion for summary judgment because we conclude that there is no genuine…