The high court on Monday refused to hear James L. Andros III's appeal of a lower court decision throwing his lawsuit out.

Andros was arrested after an on-call medical examiner mistakenly listed the death of his wife, Ellen, as homicide through asphyxiation in 2001.

The charges were dropped a month before his trial after it was determined his wife had died of a rare heart condition. By that time, the veteran Atlantic City policeman had been suspended from his job and lost custody of his two young daughters.

Judges at the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Andros could not sue because the prosecutors were acting in their official role in charging him and the investigators had probable cause to suspect him in his wife's death.