THE FINAL STRAW

Hardly a week goes by without our hearing or reading about a convicted person being exonerated when the court finds once again, an innocent person had been wrongfully prosecuted as a result of prosecutorial misconduct. Where does this end? And why should you care? Because it could happen to you or someone you love.

Former United States Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson once said, “The prosecutor has more power over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America.” However, the facts disclose that prosecutors are abusing this power at alarming rates and facing no consequences for their actions. According to Preventable Error: A Report on Prosecutorial Misconduct in California 1997-2009, prosecutors were guilty of misconduct 707 times from 1997 to 2009, yet were disciplined only seven times. A USA Today investigation by Brad Heath and Kevin McCoy that was published on September 23, 2010, documents 201 instances where federal prosecutors violated laws or ethics rules since 1997 and noted that only one of these prosecutors was suspended from practicing law — and that was only for one year.

The US. Supreme Court dealt the final straw in its 2011 decision in Connick v. Thompson. The defendant served 18 years until it came to light that the prosecutor had withheld favorable evidence which should have been disclosed. Although exonerated and released, the Court held that the prosecution was never the less immune from liability.

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has noted that prosecutorial immunity is a federal judge-made rule of law that can and should be overturned.

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