CRIMINAL LAW

Criminal Law

Criminal Law

Identification of Party Involved

On the basis of false testimony, Petitioner Charles Rehberg was indicated by three juries for varying charges. After the discharge of the accusation, a private suit was bought by Rehberg under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against many parties which mainly included Respondent James Paulk. This was because he was the main government official who was involved in the case.

Facts

Anonymous faxes were sent by Petitioner Charles Rehberg in which he complained about the unethical billing and accounting practices of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Alban. Response of the faxes was given by James Paulk who started an investigation against Rehberg as a favor to the hospital. However, it was claimed by Rehberg that he began the investigation without any cause.

It was in 2005 when he was accused for entering a doctor's house unlawfully also for making phone calls that were harassing. The only witness of this incident was Paulk, therefore he also testified this in front of the jury. However, later onwards he denied accepting that he gathered any evidence against Rehberg and there was no evidence against Rehberg that could prove that he went to the doctor's house (US Courts, 2011).

In 2006, charges against Rehberg were again initiated by Paulk and he accused him of similar offences against the same doctor and served as a witness in front of the jury but Rehberg denied accepting the accusation which failed. After a month, Paulk appeared the grand jury again and presented the same grounds against Rehberg. This time, Rehberg was detained for a small period but after the court discovered that the charges were wrong and so they were dismissed. All three indictments were reported in the press widely and Rehberg's faxes were used by the District Attorney's Office to characterize Rehberg's faxes as speech acts.

After the ...