A federal judge has thrown out most of the civil rights claims filed by three men whose convictions of raping and murdering a Long Island teen were vacated after they had spent 17 years in prison but ruled that one defendant who faced a second trial can proceed with his malicious prosecution case against Nassau County.
Eastern District Judge Joanna Seybert in Kogut v. County of Nassau, 06-cv-6695, dismissed the majority of claims brought against the county, various officials and police detectives in civil suits by John Kogut, John Restivo and Dennis Halstead, who were convicted of raping and murdering Theresa Fusco, 16, who went missing from a local roller rink. But the judge let Mr. Kogut’s malicious prosecution claim proceed.
The Eastern District decision appears on page 41 of the print edition of today’s Law Journal.
