Ending Predatory Prosecution & Making Bad Actors Pay for Misconduct
The Sixth Amendment promises a jury trial, but almost nobody gets one. When prosecutors stack charges to scare people out of their constitutional rights, that's government overreach in its purest form. I'll be just as hard on prosecutors as they want to be on criminals.
Who Pays for Misconduct: Not the Taxpayer
Why should a citizen pay, out of their own pocket or for someone else, for the misconduct of a few? Right now they do. When an innocent Hoosier is exonerated, Indiana pays $50,000 for every year they were wrongfully locked up, out of taxpayer money (Innocence Project). When police are sued for civil rights violations, governments pay about 99.98% of the damages, and the officers themselves almost nothing (Schwartz, NYU Law Review). And prosecutors can't be sued at all for courtroom decisions — even for hiding evidence — because the Supreme Court gave them absolute immunity in Imbler v. Pachtman (1976).
My line: honest mistakes stay the government's responsibility. Knowing misconduct, like hiding evidence that would clear someone, becomes the bad actor's responsibility — with no taxpayer-funded cover for intentional violations, cost recovery from the person who caused it, and professional liability insurance for prosecutors, the way doctors carry it.
Why This Is Personal: I've Lived It in Hamilton County
A driver swerved and tried to run my girlfriend and me off the road. I drew my firearm and held it at low ready; I never aimed it at her. She called the police herself and told them I never pointed the gun at her. My girlfriend and I both told police she was the aggressor. In Indiana, a vehicle can be a deadly weapon, and the law protects self-defense and the right to stand your ground.
The Hamilton County prosecutor charged me anyway: a Level 5 felony for intimidation with a deadly weapon, plus a Level 6. Pretrial services recommended release on my own recognizance, and the presiding judge let me travel out of state within weeks. Then the prosecutor told my attorney that if we moved to depose the witness, the plea offer would be pulled. That was his only witness, and the case rested on hearsay. I have the emails. So I made the choice too many Americans are forced to make: I pleaded to limit my exposure, knowing I was innocent. The Level 5 was dropped to a Level 6 with a year of probation, which converts to a misdemeanor on Jan 31, 2027, and can be expunged. While I fought the charge, I was forced to work unarmed — and kept showing up anyway, protecting vulnerable communities including Seeds of Hope.
- No Immunity for Prosecutors: Repeal court-created absolute immunity (Imbler v. Pachtman) and require prosecutorial malpractice insurance.
- Statutory Brady Deadlines: Write the duty to hand over favorable defense evidence into federal law with strict deadlines and penalties.
- Ban Coercive Overcharging: Stop charge-stacking used to force pleas and ban trial penalties.
- Public Misconduct Registry: Require public reporting on federal prosecutorial misconduct findings and discipline.