Courts were more likely to reverse in cases where prosecutors failed to turn over "Brady" material (information that pointed to the defendant's innocence), which occurred in 8 of the cases, resulting in 7of the reversals. Misconduct was found most often in murder cases (28 % of the cases) and sex crimes (24% of the cases).
"As best we can determine, most prosecutors' offices don't even have clear internal systems for preventing and reviewing misconduct. But perhaps even more alarming is that bar oversight entities tend not to act in the wake of even serious acts of misconduct," said Stephen Saloom, Policy Director of the Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Cardozo School of Law.
"We don't accept this lack of accountability and oversight for any other government entity where life and liberty are at stake, and there's no reason we should do so for prosecutors," he said.
Results from this study indicate that of the 65 DNA exoneration cases involving documented appeals and/or civil suits addressing prosecutorial misconduct, 31 (48%) resulted in court findings of error, with 18% of findings leading to reversals (harmful error).
While not a perfect comparison, there has been one large, nationwide study of prosecutorial misconduct. The Center of Public Integrity found that among all 11,452 documented appeals alleging some type of prosecutorial misconduct between 1970 and 2002, 2,012 appeals led to reversals or remanded indictments, indicating harmful error--a rate of 17.6%. This is nearly identical to the rate of harmful error findings of 18 % in the DNA exoneration cases.
Over the past decade, the power of judges has decreased because of sentencing guidelines and other factors, while the power of prosecutors has jumped off the charts. Bar associations have found accusations of prosecutors' misconduct embarrassing -- this is peer review with potentially career-ending authority -- and difficult to prove.
But it's possible that lawyers, at least those in Texas, will see the findings of the Court of Inquiry as a too-long-delayed wake-up call.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
2
