California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Craig, 21 Cal.App.4th Supp. 1, 26 Cal.Rptr.2d 184 (Cal. Super. 1993):
Without deciding whether a person has an absolute right to file a criminal complaint against a peace officer and always avoid prosecution under section 148.5, we find the charge against appellant, based on the facts of this case, to be excessive and unwarranted. His complaint was not clearly a complaint within the definition of section 148.5. Because doubts as to the nature of the[21 Cal.App.4th Supp. 7] complaint should be resolved in favor of finding the complaint to be privileged under section 832.5 (Pena v. Municipal Court, supra, 96 Cal.App.3d at pp. 82-83, 157 Cal.Rptr. 584, quoting Brody v. Montalbano, supra, 87 Cal.App.3d at p. 733, 151 Cal.Rptr. 206), the judgment in this case must be reversed.
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