Category: Prosecutorial Misconduct

Former DA, now Sitting State Court Judge, Charged and Arrested for Past Brady Violations

In an unprecedented move against prosecutorial misconduct, former District Attorney Ken Anderson was arrested and released on $7500 based on charges that he violated state evidence tampering statutes and committed contempt of court when he violated a court order by suppressing powerful exculpatory evidence in the decades-old Michael Morton case. Morton was prosecuted for murder but was exonerated through DNA evidence after he served nearly 25 years in prison. District Judge Louis Surms, who is sitting as the court of inquiry into the Morton conviction, also issued an order to show cause requiring Anderson to appear on a criminal contempt citation.

Judge Sturms found that Anderson had concealed two critical pieces of evidence:  a police interview transcript that showed Morton’s young son had witnessed the murder and reported that his father had not been home at the time; and evidence that a man with a green van parked near the Morton home had been seen walking repeatedly into the woods behind the house.

Related Readings

Michael Morton Prosecutor Will Face Criminal Charges for Withholding Evidence by Innocence Project (Apr. 2013)

Innocence Network Conference

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Last weekend, I attended the annual conference of the Innocence Network.  My clinic at Pace – the Post-Conviction Project – is a member of the Network, which has grown to include 62 independent nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and public defender offices dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people and reforming the criminal justice system to avoid future injustice.  Most, but not all, of the affiliated projects are associated with law schools.  Some conduct litigation on behalf of their clients;  others investigate and refer cases to pro bono counsel.   In 2012 Network organizations exonerated 26 wrongly convicted individuals.  Members also vacated clients’ convictions, reduced sentences, gained release on parole, and won compensation for the wrongly convicted and later exonerated.   The Network is an invaluable source of information and technical support for independent projects. 

Attendees at the conference included exonerees and their families some of whom worked with THE MOTH to learn how to effectively tell a personal story to a live audience.  For staff and project directors, the conference presented information on the latest developments in DNA testing, the science of arson investigation, victim perspectives, ethics, case management systems and many other topics.  To learn more about the work of the Network click here:  www.innocencenetwork.org

Adele Bernhard

Disciplining Prosecutors

The California State Bar has recommended disbarment for a prosecutor, John Michael Alexander, based on misconduct that included failing to disclose exculpatory materials and lying about it.  Apparently, this prosecutor  had prior disciplinary cases based on misconduct.  This recommendation follows two other California disciplinary sanctions on prosecutors: one who was suspended for four years, and another who received a public reproval.

Three cases may not make a trend, but this may be a development worth watching. To read more, see the following:

Do Prosecutors Face Consequences for their Misconduct?

On April 3, 2013 ProPublica has brought to the forefront of discussion, once again, the always passionately debated topic of prosecutorial misconduct. Joaquin Sapien and Sergio Hernandez published their investigation and outlined the analysis of more than a decade’s worth of cases in which prosecutors have committed errors resulting in wrongful convictions or allowing the guilty walking free. The analysis includes a closer look at what consequences, if any, the prosecutors have faced as a result of their misconduct.

A ProPublica analysis of more than a decade’s worth of state and federal court rulings found more than two dozen instances in which judges explicitly concluded that city prosecutors had committed harmful misconduct. In each instance, these abuses were sufficient to prompt courts to throw out convictions.

Yet the same appellate courts did not routinely refer prosecutors for investigation by the state disciplinary committees charged with policing lawyers. Disciplinary committees, an arm of the appellate courts, almost never took serious action against prosecutors. None of the prosecutors who oversaw cases reversed based on misconduct were disbarred, suspended, or censured except for Stuart.

Between 2001 and 2009 (the latest year for which data are available), just 1 percent of the roughly 91,000 complaints received by the First and Second Department committees resulted in public sanctions. And just 5 percent of all the complaints resulted in even so much as private letters of caution or admonition, which remain confidential to all but complainants and the attorneys who receive them.

This article will be followed by a live online discussion on Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 12 PM ET. Join ProPublica’s Joaquin Sapien (@jbsapien), reporter Sergio Hernandez (@cerealcommas), and legal experts including Laurie Levenson of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles Bennett Gershman of Pace University School of Law. You may tweet your questions with the hashtag #PolicingProsecutors, or leave them in the comments on ProPublica’s Facebook.

Read the full article

Joaquin Sapien & Sergio Hernandez, Who Polices Prosecutors Who Abuses Authority? Usually Nobody, ProPublica, April 3, 2013.

Readings related to prosecutorial misconduct