A new controversy has arisen from the already controversial authority of government prosecutors to promise or confer immunity. Recently, a defendant raised a defense that the government had authorized or permitted him to commit the charged offenses. Click here to read Prof. Bennett L. Gershman’s take on Licensing Crimes.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes has announced that his office will review convictions that involved evidence secured by a specific police detective. This is welcome news. Similar action is being called for in Chicago.
One wonders, however, whether having acknowledged the need for review, the district attorneys should request a state commission look into these prior convictions. While it is possible that prosecutors were duped by false evidence given to them by the police, it is also possible that prosecutorial misconduct or at least willful blindness helped lead to wrongful convictions in these cases. Conviction Integrity Units could serve a useful purpose as one of several avenues for identifying potential wrongful convictions for review. But if the purpose of maintaining or restoring confidence in the criminal justice system is to be achieved or real reform enacted, New York State’s Commission on Wrongful Convictions should consider appointing an independent body to take over.
Related Readings
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/nyregion/doubts-about-detective-haunt-50-murder-cases.html?_r=2&
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)
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:
Surprising many, an administrative judge has vacated the 15- and 40- day suspensions imposed on two Assistant Uniteed States Attorneys for clatant misconduct in the case against Ted Stevens. Click here.