KENNETH SCOTT NIVENS; GLEN LANCE MANERS; TERRI LYNN STORK, Plаintiffs-Appellants, v. PETER S. GILCHRIST, III, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 05-1276
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
April 11, 2006
PUBLISHED. Argued: February 1, 2006. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. Graham C. Mullen, Chief District Judge. (CA-03-534). Before WILLIAMS, MOTZ, and KING, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Williams wrote the opinion, in which Judge Motz and Judge King joined.
COUNSEL
OPINION
WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge:
Appellants Kenneth Scott Nivens, Glen Lance Maners, and Terri Lynn Stork previously brought an action in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, seeking to enjoin a рending state criminal drug prosecution against them. Appellants contended that because they had already paid North Carolina‘s drug tax, their prosecution would violate the Fifth Amendment‘s Double Jeopardy Clause, made applicable to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment. In Nivens v. Gilchrist, 319 F.3d 151 (4th Cir. 2003) (Nivens I), we held the district court properly abstained from exercising jurisdiction over Appellants’ case based on Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971), in part because Appellants had failed to take advantage of pretrial avenues to raise their
I.
The relevant facts of this appeal are straightforward and not in dispute. On July 8, 2000, Appellants were arrested for violations of the North Carolina Unauthorized Substances Act because of their alleged possession and sale of the drug commonly known as ecstasy. Shortly thereafter, the North Carolina Department of Revenue issued notices of tax assessments for possession of the drugs
Appellants were subsequently indicted under North Carolina law for possession, sale, delivery, and transportation of, and conspiracy to sell and deliver an unauthorized substance. A criminal trial was scheduled for the November 5, 2001, term of the Superior Court of North Carolina. On October 29, 2001, Appellants filed an action under
In state court, Appellants then moved to dismiss North Carolinа‘s prosecution pursuant to
Appellants then returned to federal district court, where they filed the instant § 1983 action and North Carolina moved the district court to dismiss the action or abstain from exercising jurisdiction. On February 3, 2005, the district court, relying on Younger and our decision in Nivens I, entered an order dismissing Appellants’ complaint “with prejudice” because the court concluded that it “lack[ed] subject matter jurisdiction under
II.
The issue on appeal is whether the district court erred in dismissing Appellants’ claims for declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief, and if not, whether the district court erred in doing so with prejudice. We review for abuse of discretion the district court‘s decision to abstain under Younger. Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 153. We first address the district court‘s decision to abstain with respect to Appellants’ claims for declaratory and injunctive relief.
A.
In Younger, the Supreme Court detailed our “national рolicy forbidding federal courts to stay or enjoin pending state court proceedings except under special circumstances.” Younger, 401 U.S. at 41. As we noted in Nivens I, Younger was based on principles of equity and comity. See Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 153. As to equity, the Supreme Court explained “that courts of equity should not act, and particularly should not act to restrain a criminal prosecution, when the moving party has an adequate remedy at law and will not suffer irreparable injury if denied equitable relief.” Younger, 401 U.S. at 43-44. Because in a typical state criminal trial a defendant can raise his constitutional claims as a defense to prosecution, he has an adequate remedy at law. The Court addressed the comity principle by referencing the policy of “Our Federalism,” which recognizes that “аnxious though [the National Government] may be to vindicate and protect federal rights and federal interests, [it] always endeavors to do so in ways that will not unduly interfere with the legitimate activities of the States.” Id. at 44 (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, the Younger doctrine is anchored in a “belief that the National Government will fare best if the States and their institutions are left free to perform their separate functions in their separate ways.” Id.
Absent a few extraordinary exceptions, Younger mandates that a federal court abstain from exercising jurisdiction and interfering in a state criminal proceeding3 if (1) there is an ongoing state judicial proceeding brought prior to substantial progress in the federal proceeding; that (2) implicates important, substantial, or vital state interests; and (3) prоvides adequate opportunity to raise constitutional challenges. See Middlesex County Ethics Comm. v. Garden State Bar Ass‘n, 457 U.S. 423, 432 (1982); Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 153.
The Supreme Court has recognized that a federal court may disregard Younger‘s mandate only where (1) “there is a showing of bad faith or harassment by state officials responsible for the prosecution“; (2) “the state law to be applied in the criminal proceeding is flagrantly and patently violative of express constitutional prohibitions“; or (3) “other extraordinary circumstances” exist that present a threat of immediate and irreparable injury. Kugler v. Helfant, 421 U.S. 117, 124 (1975) (internal quotation marks omitted). Although as a general matter, “the cost, anxiety, and inconvenience of having to defend against a criminal prosecution alone [does] not constitute irreparable injury,” Younger, 401 U.S. at 46 (internal quotation marks omitted), we have previously recognized that one such extraordinary circumstance may exist in the double jeopardy context, where “a portion of the constitutional protection [the Double Jeopardy Clause] affords would be irreparably lost if [claimants] were forced to endure [a] second trial before seeking to vindicate their constitutional rights at the federal level.” Gilliam v. Foster, 75 F.3d 881, 904 (4th Cir. 1996) (en banc) (Gilliam III).
To the extent Appellants argue that abstention was improper in this case, that argument is largely foreclosed by our decision in Nivens I, where we held “[b]ecause Appellants failed to establish any of the exceptions to Younger, . . . the district court did not abuse its discretion in abstaining from adjudicating Appellants’ double jeopardy claim.” Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 162. In that case, Appellants had argued that (1) Younger was inapplicable because the North Carolina courts would plainly not afford them adequate protection and (2) abstention was improper because “a colorable claim of a double jeopardy violation [was] sufficient to establish exceptional circumstances warranting federal court intervention without any separate showing.” Id. at 155, 159.
The Appellants’ first Nivens I argument stemmed from their belief that North Carolina courts would not consider their claim that the post-1995 amendment drug tax was a criminal penalty because those courts had already ruled, in Ballenger, 472 S.E.2d 572, that the pre-1995 amendment was not a criminal penalty. Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 155. Further, Appellants suggestеd that because we previously had determined that the pre-1995 amendment was a criminal penalty, see Lynn v. West, 134 F.3d 582, 593-94 (4th Cir. 1998), it was necessary for the district court to assert jurisdiction in order to afford adequate protection from North Carolina‘s inevitable violation of Appellants’ constitutional rights. Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 155.
We rejected these arguments because, inter alia, the post-1995 “drug tax [was not] sufficiently similar to the [pre-1995] drug tax such that we should treat them the same.” Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 158. Thus, we treated the penalty status of the post-1995 drug tax as an open question that had yet to be addressed by the North Carolina or federal courts.4 Once this determination was made, Appellants’ first argument boiled down to an “assertion that the North Carolina courts [would] likely decide a cоnstitutional issue in a way contrary to what Appellants believe the Constitution mandates.” Id. We concluded that this was “not a sufficient basis to avoid application of Younger abstention.” Id.
Appellants’ second Nivens I argument was based on a misreading of our decision in Gilliam III. We concluded that Gilliam III did not, as Appellants suggested, hold that a “colorable” double jeopardy allegation automatically precludes Younger abstention. Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 159. Rather, as we noted in Nivens I, Gilliam III held that a party must show a “substantial likelihood of an irreparable double jeopardy violation” in order to avoid Younger abstention. Id. Moreover, the irreparable harm facing the petitioners in Gilliam III was based on a concern that they would be “forced to endure [a] second trial before seeking to vindicate their constitutional rights at the federal level.” Gilliam III, 75 F.3d at 904. Unlike the petitioners in Gilliam III, the Appellants in Nivens I had yet to undergo an initial trial and
We noted, however, that Appellants failed to make the requisite showing in part because — by way of the North Carolina courts — they still had “access to pretrial avenues in their current сriminal prosecutions whereby they may raise their constitutional contentions before any double jeopardy injury could inure.” Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 159. Moreover, we specifically reserved “the issue of whether a federal district court should exercise its jurisdiction over Appellants’ claim once they have exhausted North Carolina‘s pre-trial procedures.” Id. at 160 n.13. Now that Appellants have exhausted their pre-trial avenues, that issue is squarely before us.
Notwithstanding our avoidance of this issue in Nivens I, we went on to note that there likely was no danger of a double jeopardy violation, and thus concluded that Appellants failed to show “a ‘great’ or ‘substantial’ likelihood that they will suffer any constitutional deprivation.” Id. at 160 (quoting Younger, 401 U.S. at 45; City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 111-12 (1983)). We based this conclusion on our view that (1) it was “arguable whether the current version of North Carolina‘s drug tax constitutes criminal punishment,” (2) even assuming it did constitute a criminal penalty, “it is not clear that the payment of the drug tax took place in a prior ‘proceeding,‘” and (3) “to the extent that the assessment of the drug tax is part of the current prosecution, and not a separate proceeding, there likely is no double jeopardy restriction.” Id. at 160-61.5 Thus, we held:
None of this is to say that Appellants ultimately will not prevail on their double jeopardy claim. It is only to say that where the alleged double jeopardy violation is far from clear, immediate, or irreparable, the important Younger policy of allowing the State tо pursue its prosecution free from federal court intervention outweighs Appellants’ interest in having the double jeopardy issue resolved in a federal forum.
This holding is not altered by the fact that Appellants utilized North Carolina‘s pre-trial procedures but failed to prevail on the merits. Abstention does not suddenly become improper simply because Appellants lost on the merits in the state court. See Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 158 (“Simply put, an assertion that the North Carolina courts will likely decide a constitutional issue in a way contrary to what Appellants believe the Constitution mandates is not a sufficient basis to avoid application of Younger abstention.“). In other words, the key question is whether the state allows for Appellants to raise their objections, not whether the state agrees with those objections. See Moore v. Sims, 442 U.S. 415, 425-26 (1979) (holding that a “federal court should not exert jurisdiction if the plaintiffs had an opportunity to present their federal claims in the state proceedings. The pertinent issue is whether [the] constitutional claims could have been raised in the pending state proceedings. . . . Certainly, abstention is appropriate unless state law clearly bars that interposition of the constitutional claims” (emphasis added and internal quotation marks and citations omitted)).
As the district court recognized, the fact that Appellants were able to present their claims and have them addressed in state court suffices and continues to make federаl intervention inappropriate. See (J.A. at 1428-29 (“The fact that Plaintiffs did not obtain the result they desired from that process or the degree of review that they thought proper does not negate the fact that the state court addressed their claim.“)). In addition, because we continue to believe that Appellants’ case is distinguishable from Gilliam III and Appellants fail to show a clear, immediate, or irreparable double jeopardy violation, abstention remains the proper course of action for the district court with respect to Appellants’ claims for declaratory and injunctive relief. See Commonwealth of Va. v. Kelly, 29 F.3d 145, 147-48 (4th Cir. 1994) (“There being little, if any, likelihood that Kelly can succeed on the merits of his federal double jeopardy claim, and the public interests weighing heavily in favor of the Commonwealth‘s ability to pursue its criminal proceedings free of federal court intervention, the district court erred in staying Kelly‘s [state criminal trial.]” (citations omitted), quoted in Nivens I, 319 F.3d at 162).
C.
Appellants next argue that even if the decision to abstain was correct, the district court “misperceived the concept of abstention, viewing it as abdication of federal district court jurisdiction rather than postponement of its exercise.” (Appellants’ Br. 20.) Appellants contend that this misperception caused the district court to err in dismissing the case with prejudice, when the proper course would have been to dismiss without prejudice or stay the federal court proceedings until the completion of the state court proceedings. We disagree.
Appellants’ argument relies on a number of Supreme Court decisions, including England v. Louisiana State Bd. of Med. Examiners, 375 U.S. 411 (1964), Am. Trial Lawyers Ass‘n. v. New Jersey Supreme Court, 409 U.S. 467 (1973)(per curiam), and Exxon Mobile Corp. v. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., 125 S.Ct. 1517 (2005), for its contention that the district court should have retained jurisdiction over its case. These decisions, however, are inapposite to the case here.
In England, the district court abstained from hearing a group of chiropractors’ challenge to the Louisiana Medical Practices Act because it was unclear under state law whether the act applied to chiropractors. 375 U.S. at 413. The plaintiffs then litigated their claims and lost on the merits in state court before returning to the federal district court, which dismissed the action and told the plaintiffs that if they were not satisfied with the state court‘s resolution of their claim, they must appeal that decision to the United States Supreme Court. Id. at 414-15. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that “abstention does not, of course, involve the abdication of federal jurisdiction, but only the postponement of its exercise.” Id. at 416. As to the argument that the plaintiffs
In American Trial Lawyers, a group of lawyers brought an action seeking to declare New Jersey‘s maximum cоntingent fee rule unconstitutional. 409 U.S. at 467. The district court dismissed the suit because it found that the issue was primarily one of state law. Id. at 468. The Supreme Court again enunciated the principle that abstention does not involve the abdication of federal jurisdiction, but instead its postponement, stating that “a dismissal on grounds of abstention so as to permit a state court to pass on an issue of state law must not be with prejudice. The proper course is for the District Court to retain jurisdiction pending the proceedings in the state courts.” Id. at 469 (citations omitted).
In Exxon, Saudi Basic had sued Exxon in state court, seeking a declaratory judgment that certain licensing charges were proper. Exxon, 125 S.Ct. at 1525. Exxon then filed suit in federal court while also assеrting as counterclaims in state court the same claims it made in federal court. Id. Saudi Basic filed a motion to dismiss the federal claims, which was denied by the district court. Id. While Saudi‘s appeal of the denial of its motion to dismiss was pending, the state case proceeded to trial and Exxon was awarded significant damages. Id. The Third Circuit held that the state court‘s judgment divested federal courts of jurisdiction over the case. Id. at 1525-26. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that although Exxon‘s federal claims might be barred by preclusion doctrines, the state court‘s judgment could not prevent a federal court‘s exercise of subject matter jurisdiction. Id. at 1527.
Appellants’ reliance on these cases is misplaced because none of the decisions concerned the relevant doctrine here, which is of course Younger abstention. First, Exxon concerned the proper application of the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, not Younger abstention. See Exxon, 125 S. Ct. at 1526-27 (holding that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine is limited to complaints “of an injury caused by the state-court judgment and seeking review and rejection of that judgment” and that federal district courts lack jurisdiction to hear such claims because the Supreme Court is vested with exclusive jurisdiction of such claims); see also Davani v. Va. Dep‘t of Transp., 434 F.3d 712 (4th Cir. 2006) (explaining the Rooker-Feldman doctrine and Exxon‘s clarification of that doctrine). In fact, the Supreme Court explicitly recognized that while Rooker-Feldman does nothing to bar a federal court from asserting jurisdiction over a properly invoked concurrent suit, “[c]omity or abstention doctrines may, in various circumstances, permit or require the federal cоurt to stay or dismiss the federal action in favor of the state-court litigation.” Exxon, 125 S. Ct. at 1527. Thus, Exxon has no bearing on the propriety of the district court‘s dismissal here.
England and American Trial Lawyers, on the other hand, concern abstention, but not Younger abstention. Rather, these cases concern Pullman abstention. See RR Comm. of Tex. v. Pullman Co., 312 U.S. 496 (1941). Pullman abstention requires federal courts to abstain from deciding an unclear area of state law that raises constitutional issues because state court clarification might serve to avoid a federal constitutional ruling. England detailed the proper procedure for federal courts to follow in Pullman cases: federal courts should retain
Unlike the prototypical Younger case, Pullman cases do not involve a pending state court criminal action. For example, Pullman abstention is appropriate when a plaintiff brings a federal case that requires the federal court to interpret an unclear state law. Pullman, 312 U.S. at 498-99. Exercising Pullman abstention, the federal court then stays the proceeding (or certifies the question) and directs the plaintiff to first press his claim in state court. Id. at 501-02. Younger cases, on the other hand, typically involve claimants who come to federal court in an attempt to enjoin their pending state criminal prosecutions. Younger, 401 U.S. at 38-39. Younger exists to avoid an unnecessary intrusion into state proceedings and prosecutions, whereas Pullman exists in order to allow state courts tо resolve complicated issues of state law. Thus, Younger allows for the state court to decide federal constitutional issues, whereas Pullman reserves those issues for federal court review, when necessary.
Because Younger is in part based on the idea that a state court is equally competent in deciding federal constitutional issues when faced with a pending prosecution, Younger does not contemplate those issues returning to federal court. See Lawrence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law, § 3-30, at 202 n.5 (2d ed. 1988) (“The effect of the Younger rules, then, is even more drastic than that of an administrative exhaustion requirement, . . . which allows ultimate resort to a federal forum.“). Moreover, Younger requires state courts to have аdequate procedures in place for the raising of federal constitutional claims, and once those claims are heard by the state court, a federal district court will often be precluded from considering the claims on the merits. See
Accordingly, Younger “contemplates the outright dismissal of the federal suit, and the presentation of all claims, both state and federal, to the state courts.” Gibson v. Berryhill, 411 U.S. 564, 577 (1973); see also Juidice v. Vail, 430 U.S. 327, 337 (1977) (holding that where there are adequate state procedures, “the principles which underlie Younger call for dismissal of the action“); San Remo Hotel v. City & County of San Francisco, 145 F.3d 1095, 1103 (9th Cir. 1998), affirmed by 125 S.Ct. 2491 (2005) (“Unlike Pullman abstention, Younger abstention requires dismissal of the federal claim for injunctive relief, not a stay.“); Juluke v. Hodel, 811 F.2d 1553, 1556 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (”Younger is not merely a principle of abstention; rather, the case sets forth a mandatory rule of equitable restraint, requiring the dismissal of a federal action that seeks to enjoin an ongoing prosecution in a state criminal proceeding.” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Zalman v. Anderson, 802 F.2d 199, 207 n.11 (6th Cir. 1986) (”Younger abstention requires dismissal of the complaint rather than retention of jurisdiction as is the case under Pullman abstention.“). Thus, where the relief being sought is equitable, as it always is in Younger cases when a criminal defendant seeks to enjoin a state prosecution, “federal courts . . . have the power to . . . decline to exercise jurisdiction altogether by either dismissing the suit or remanding it to state court.” Quackenbush v. Allstate Ins. Co., 517 U.S. 706, 721 (1996).
Because the outright dismissal of Appellants’ declaratory and injunctive claims was proper, the only remaining question is whether the district court erred in dismissing the claims with prejudice. We conclude that it did not.7
We arrive at this conclusion because a district court abstaining under Younger is not retaining jurisdiction, but rather refusing to take jurisdiction over the question of whether to enjoin thе pending prosecution. See Bridges v. Kelly, 84 F.3d 470, 475 n.7 (D.C. Cir. 1996) (describing the district court‘s dismissal without prejudice as “curious” because “it seems clear . . . that appellant‘s complaint was being fully removed from the District Court‘s jurisdiction pursuant to the teachings of Younger and its progeny“). Thus, when a district court abstains from a case based on Younger, it should typically dismiss the case with prejudice; not on the merits, see Greening v. Moran, 953 F.2d 301, 304 (7th Cir. 1992) (holding that “it is not appropriate to address the merits in a case to which Younger applies” because “[t]o say that abstention is in order . . . is to say that federal courts should not address the merits, period“), but instead because the court is denied the equitable discretion ever to reach the merits.8 See Lui v. Comm‘n on Adult Entm‘t of Del., 369 F.3d 319, 327 (3d Cir. 2004) (holding that “a
Younger abstention “does not arise from lack of jurisdiction in the District Court, but from strong policies counseling against the exercise of such jurisdiction where particular kinds of state proceedings have already been commenced.” Ohio Civil Rights Comm‘n v. Dayton Christian Sch., Inc., 477 U.S. 619, 626 (1986). The district court error, however, was more semantic than substantive because the effect of dismissal on grounds of abstention is the same.
We, therefore, affirm the district court‘s dismissal with prejudice.9 Appellants raised their double jeopardy objection in their state prosecution but did not prevail on it. If they are convicted, they may appeal that conviction in North Carolina on double jeopardy grounds. If the North Carolina Supreme Court affirms their сonviction, Appellants may then seek certiorari review in the United States Supreme Court. See
III.
We turn now to Appellants’ claims for monetary damages against Gilchrist in both his official and individual capacities. The district court‘s order appears to have dismissed Appellants’ entire complaint on grounds of Younger abstention. It was improper, however, to rely on the Younger doctrine to dismiss Appellants’ damages claims. We conclude, however, that the claims were barred against Gilchrist in his official capacity by the Eleventh Amendment and barred against him in his individual capacity by the doctrine of prosecutorial immunity. Thus, dismissal was proper.
We have held that ”Younger does not invariably require dismissal of § 1983 damage actions.” Suggs v. Brannon, 804 F.2d 274, 279 (4th Cir. 1986). One of the principles underlying Younger is that it is unnecessary for a federal court to enjoin a pending prosecution or declare a statute unconstitutional because a state court may itself make either of those judgments in response to a defendant‘s objections during prosecution. State criminal proceedings do not, however, allow for claims of money damages by criminal defendants — such a claim is simply not available. Therefore, a “District Court has no discretion to dismiss rather than to stay claims for monetary relief that cannot be redressed in the state proceeding.” Deakins v. Monaghan, 484 U.S. 193, 202 (1988). Accordingly, the district court here erred in dismissing Appellants’ damages claims pursuant to the Younger doctrine.
On appeal, North Carolina defends the district court‘s dismissal under different reasoning, asking us to affirm the dismissal because Appellants’ claims for damages were barred by the Eleventh Amendment, prosecutorial immunity, and qualified immunity.10 See Blum v. Bacon, 457 U.S. 132, 137 n.5 (1982) (“It is well acсepted . . . that without filing a cross-appeal . . . , an appellee may rely upon any matter appearing in the record in support of the judgment
A.
The Eleventh Amendment states: “The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against onе of the United States by Citizens of another State or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign States.”
Here, Appellants made a claim for monetary damages against Gilchrist in his official capacity. Such a claim, in effect, is against the governmental entity employing Gilchrist. See Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 166 (1985) (noting that the government entity is “the real party in interest” in an official capacity suit). Thus, “when the action is in essence one for the recovery of money from the state, the state is the real, substantial party in interest and is entitled to invoke its sovereign immunity from suit even though individual offiсials are nominal defendants.” Ford Motor Co. v. Dep‘t of Treasury, 323 U.S. 459, 464 (1945), overruled on other grounds by Lapides v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. Sys. of Ga., 535 U.S. 613 (2002). In determining whether Gilchrist is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity, we “must first establish whether [North Carolina‘s] treasury will be affected by the law suit. If the answer is yes, [Gilchrist] is immune under the Eleventh Amendment.” Harter v. Vernon, 101 F.3d 334, 340 (4th Cir. 1996).
The answer to this question here is clear. The North Carolina Constitution provides for creation of prosecutorial districts and notes that the district attorney shall “be responsible for the prosecution on behalf of the State of all criminal actions.”
B.
Appellants also named Gilchrist as a defendant in his individual capacity, a
Here, Appellants have been indicted and face prosecution. Their theory of damages is based on the pain and suffering caused by their indictment and pending prosecution, allegedly in violation of their double jeopardy rights. Appellants do not, however, argue that Gilchrist‘s actions fell outside of his traditional prosecutorial duties. For example, their complaint does not suggest that Gilchrist fabricated evidence. See Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259, 272 (1993). Nor do they contend that Gilchrist violated their rights while undertaking administrative or investigatory activities. Id. at 273 (“A prosecutor‘s administrative duties and those investigatory functions that do not relate to an advocate‘s preparation for the initiation of a prosecution or for judicial proceedings are not entitled to absolute immunity.“); Kalina v. Fletcher, 522 U.S. 118, 126 (1997) (noting same). Rather, Appellants seek damages from Gilchrist because of his initiation of criminal charges against Appellants following their payment of the drug tax. “[A]cts undertaken by a prosecutor in preparing for the initiation of judicial proceedings or for trial, and which оccur in the course of his role as an advocate for the State, are entitled to the protections of absolute immunity.” Buckley, 509 U.S. at 273. There is no doubt that the actions complained of in this case form the essence of Gilchrist‘s prosecutorial duties. Thus, he is plainly afforded absolute immunity from Appellant‘s claim for damages. Accordingly, we affirm the district court‘s dismissal of Appellants’ claims. See Nixon v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 731, 742-43 (1982) (noting that “the essence of absolute immunity is its possessor‘s entitlement not to have to answer for his conduct in a civil damages action“).
IV.
For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the district court‘s dismissal with prejudice.
AFFIRMED