Thursday, February 4, 2010

In California, can one be charged with false arrest if one makes a citizen's arrest?

The police accepted the arrest, the DA tried the case but the judge found defendant not guilty. Is the person who called the police to make the citizen's arrest guilty of false arrest?In California, can one be charged with false arrest if one makes a citizen's arrest?
The charge of 'false arrest' would be a civil matter - not a criminal matter.In California, can one be charged with false arrest if one makes a citizen's arrest?
1st: 'there's no crime of false arrest' is incorrect. if you lie to get someone arrested, then you made a false report. if you like at trial, you committed perjury. thus between a misd. and felony are the probable charges. Of course, the false witness may also be sued for defamation.

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There is no crime called 'false arrest'. But if the not guilty was a result of perjury then there could be a criminal charge. There can be a civil suit but there is a qualified immunity to the victim if the court held the suspect to ever be in jeopardy and if he went to trial then yes he was in jeopardy.
Generallyt speaking, no, at least not if the arrest was done in good faith.
The Jax gave you what looks like the correct answer, I just had sort of a hard time following it.





Just because someone was found not guilty...or because the DA did not file the case...does not mean the arrest was bad. Even arrests by law enforcement officers can result in the DA not filing or the defendant being found not guilty - that does not mean the arrest was bad.
Jax and Mikey got it covered.
If the private citizen who made the Citizens Arrest, did so lawfully as described under CA Code, and the Law Enforcement agency who the private citizen delivered the arrested individual to has accepted the person into custody, then no.





Regardless of the fact the arrested individual was put on trial in a court of law then found not guilty. The arrested individual was found not guilty because the court found that person to not be guilty of the crime.





Now, that does not mean that the private citizen that made the Citizens Arrest did not have probable cause and was justified to make the arrest. If the recieving LEO made a report of the precedure of how the person was arrested and then recieved by them, and the report is accurate and explains the private citizen had probablt cause and was justified, there are no worries. Not the arrested individual can still sue that person but it won't hold up in court.





Notice though you question is about could the private citizen be guilty of false arrest. Like I said, not likely. But you forget question number two. Was the arrested individual arrested by procedure? Ofcourse, if the procedure, which the arresting individual is required to report, was accurate and correct. A court will not look at that either. Hope that helps.

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