BLUEFIELD – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Mineral County for alleged malicious prosecution.
Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Faber denied the plaintiff’s motion for injunctive relief, denied his application to proceed without pre-payment of fees, dismissed the complaint and directed the clerk to remove the case from the active docket.
“By standing order, this action was referred to United States Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn for submission of proposed findings and recommendation,” the Aug. 2 memorandum states. “Magistrate Judge Aboulhosn submitted his proposed findings and recommendation on March 29, 2017. In that Proposed Findings and Recommendation, the magistrate judge recommended that this court deny plaintiff’s application to proceed without prepayment of fees, deny plaintiff’s motion for injunctive relief, dismiss plaintiff’s complaint, and remove this matter from the court’s docket.”
In accordance with the provisions of the U.S. Constitution, the parties were allotted 14 days, plus three mailing days, in which to file any objections to Aboulhosn’s findings and recommendation.
The plaintiff timely filed objections to the proposed findings and recommendation on April 13 and the court then conducted a de novo review of the record as to those objections.
On Nov. 4, Charles K. Hamilton filed the complaint against Mineral County, alleging that he was subjected to malicious prosecution.
Aboulhosn recommended that Hamilton’s claims be dismissed on the basis of prosecutorial immunity.
“Hamilton’s objections do not direct the court to a specific error in the magistrate’s proposed findings and recommendations and, therefore, they are without merit,” the memo states.
Hamilton’s complaint is three sentences long.
“The former Prosecuting Attorney James Courrier maliciously prosecuted me,” it reads. “I, Charles K. Hamilton claim that the former Prosecuting Attorney James Courrier had no evidence to prosecute me. I declare under the penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.”
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number: 1:16-cv-10562
