Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Yes, recovery is sometimes available against civilian complainants in cases of malicious prosecution, but you must first be totally cleared of all crimes charged after a trial. Any sort of plea bargaining resolution will make it impossible to recover (not that it is easy to recover if you don't plea bargain--rather it is always difficult and expensive). Government agencies, however, have sovereign immunity from lawsuits or claims for any act (or failure to act) in discretionary decisions involving public policy judgment calls such as whether or not to prosecute crimes, issue arrest warrants, etc. It is therefore nearly impossible to successfully pursue claims against them unless you can show some sort of unjustified personal vendetta against you (as well as a total lack of justification for the prosecution). Good faith belief in a victim who lies does not qualify. Statutes of limitations in such matters are also extremely short; as little as four months for certain notices. If you are pursuing any such claim, you therefore are urgently in need of advices from an experienced civil rights attorney, before your claim is barred due to the passage of these very short time limits. Please do not assume that I am your attorney because of my response here. Call my office in Racine (262-633-3090 or email [email protected]) for clarifications, but short of such additional arrangements, I will not be taking any action on your case. See me on the web at www.jayknixonlaw.com. View over fifteen years of my past answers at http://www.lawguru.com/answers/search/attorney/jknixon. Answers may contain attorney advertising materials.