Jan. 16--The Supreme Court said Friday it would hear a case involving allegations of police misconduct in Joliet and decide whether a person who was wrongly arrested can sue for "malicious prosecution."
Elijah Manuel, who is black, says he was stopped and pulled over in his car by white police officers in Joliet. He said they used racial slurs and arrested him because they wrongly concluded that a bottle of vitamins was illegal Ecstasy. He accused the officers of lying.
He was booked in the county jail and held for weeks after officers testified the pills were illegal. A judge released him seven weeks later because lab tests had shown the pills were vitamins. But when Manuel sued Joliet and its officers for a "malicious prosecution" that violated his rights against "unreasonable searches and seizures," a federal judge and the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said he had no claim, even if all he alleged was true. The high court voted to hear his appeal in the case of Manuel vs. City of Joliet.
The case is likely to be argued in April and decided by the end of June.
David.savage@latimes.com
