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i <br /> Case 1:07-cv-00251-JMS-LEK Document 42-2 Filed 08/13/2008 Page 14 of 27 <br /> freedom and independence in proceedings with criminal prosecutions will be at <br /> an end. <br /> i <br /> In the case of Shmueli v. City of New York, 424 F.3d 231 (2d Cir 2005), the <br /> Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit affirmed the doctrine of absolute immunity <br /> for a prosecutor. In Shmuelli, the plaintiff was charged with the one count of <br /> I <br /> aggravated harassment, one count of menacing in the Second Degree and 91 counts <br /> of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree. The facts of the case showed <br /> that Shmueli and Martin Lieberman had lived together for a period of two years at <br /> i <br /> which time Shmueli asked Lieberman to move out Lieberman then threatened <br /> i <br /> Shmueli that he and his friend, Assistant District Attorney Fairstein, would make <br /> I <br /> her life miserable if Shmueli'did not continue her relationship with Lieberman. <br /> The Court of Appeals reasoned that absolute immunity is an affirmative <br /> defense whose availability depends on the nature of the function being performed <br /> I <br /> by the defendant official who is alleged to have engaged in the challenged conduct, j <br /> i <br /> see, e.g., Imbler v. Pachtman,, 424 U.S. 409, 430, 96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128 <br /> I <br /> (1976); Bernard v. County of Suffolk, 356 F.3d 495, 502-03; Hill v City of New <br /> i <br /> York, 45 F.3d 653, 660-61; Lee v. Willins, 617 F.2d 320, 321-22 (2d Cir.1980), <br /> cent. denied, 449 U.S. 861, 101 S.Ct. 165, 66 L.Ed.2d 78 (1980), the nature of that <br /> function is often clear from the face of the complaint. <br /> 7 <br />