C.K. v. State

C.K. was found guilty of murder. The appellate court reversed the conviction as being against the manifest weight of the evidence. On remand, the State dismissed the indictment without prejudice. C.K. later brought this action seeking a declaration that he was a “wrongfully imprisoned individual” and that he cannot and will not be retried for murder. The trial court granted summary judgment for the State, concluding that the mere possibility of being reindicted and retried precluded C.K. from being found to have been wrongfully imprisoned. The court of appeals reversed, concluding that genuine issues of material fact existed regarding whether C.K. was a wrongfully imprisoned individual because the State had not shown that a future criminal proceeding would be factually supportable and legally permissible following the reversal of C.K.’s murder conviction. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the State’s decision to defer prosecution pending the discovery of stronger evidence of guilt was insufficient to establish that no criminal proceeding can be brought or will be brought against C.K. for any act associated with the murder at issue in this case. Accordingly, there were no genuine issues of material fact, and the State was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. View "C.K. v. State" on Justia Law