Prosecutor asks judge to dismiss lawsuit

Wayne County Prosecutor Mike Shipman has requested dismissal of a lawsuit filed against him by Richmond Police Department Major Adam Blanton.

Blanton filed the lawsuit, which was later joined by the city of Richmond, after Shipman placed him on the locally maintained Brady-Giglio list, which identifies law enforcement officers whose testimony in court could become problematic for prosecutors because of credibility concerns. U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Brady and Giglio cases require prosecutors to disclose information defendants could use to impeach law enforcement witnesses and discredit their testimony.

When Shipman placed Blanton, who is an assistant chief and RPD’s public information officer, on the list, he cited statements Blanton made. One was on RPD’s Facebook page denying that two homicide victims were RPD informants, and the other was attributed to Blanton in a Palladium-Item newspaper article that the “prosecutor’s office did not elect to pick up any charges” against a YouTube prankster.

Blanton’s lawsuit claims Shipman and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office “exceeded and abused his authority” when placing Blanton on the list and that the placement was a “baseless and retaliatory act.” It requests that Blanton be removed from the Brady-Giglio list and that he receive compensatory damages, punitive damages from Shipman and legal fees.

Shipman’s motion to dismiss, filed by attorneys from Eichhorn & Eichhorn in Hammond, claims that placing a police officer on a Brady-Giglio list is a “core prosecutorial function” and that Indiana and federal common law provides Shipman “absolute immunity” against the lawsuit’s claims.

Blanton and the city have until April 12 to file a response to the motion to dismiss. Bose McKinney & Evans, an Indianapolis legal firm, is representing Blanton and the city. RPD is paying the firm, and the city has indicated Bose McKinney & Evans had invoiced $38,364.04 through February concerning the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is assigned to Circuit Court, and Judge Bob Witham of Henry County Circuit Court has accepted jurisdiction as a special judge.

An Indiana Supreme Court disciplinary commission previously found that Blanton’s earlier complaint against Shipman did not raise “a substantial question of misconduct.” It was dismissed.