Criminal law

Barrett authored an opinion on the Rainsberger v. Benner case where she denied qualified immunity. Qualified immunity is the protection of government officials from being sued for judgement calls they make on the job. In the case, a police officer was alleged to have submitted a report, “riddled with lies undercut by the omission of exculpatory evidence” which led to a man being jailed for two months. “It would be flatly inconsistent with [the justification for qualified immunity] to imagine a competent officer considering the question whether a lie helpful to demonstrating probable cause is so helpful that he should not tell it,” Barrett said in denying Benner qualified immunity. “That is neither a reasonable question to ask nor a reasonable mistake to make.”