HUFFINGTON
08.04.13
AP PHOTO/CHARLIE NEIBERGALL
THE UNTOUCHABLES
the politicians talk about criminals taking responsibility for their
actions. That man [Dubelier] tried
to have me killed. They had evidence of my innocence, they covered it up, and they tried to kill
me anyway.”
He gets up from his desk, paces,
and his voice begins to rise again.
“That’s premeditated murder! I
don’t know how you call it anything
else. And now he makes millions of
dollars at one of the most powerful
law firms in America.” Thompson
shakes his head. He paces back to
his desk and sits down. “So tell me
again about accountability.”
WHAT ISN’T UNETHICAL
Knowingly withholding exculpatory evidence is unquestionably
a breach of ethics. But many of
the recent stories to inspire public anger at the criminal justice
system involve conduct that most
state bar associations don’t even
consider unethical. While there
were separate allegations of Brady
violations in the Aaron Swartz
case, for example, much of the
backlash has been over what many
saw as an unreasonably harsh battery of charges brought against
the young activist. The prosecutors didn’t have evidence for many
of the charges, and they knew they
didn’t, the argument goes, so the
charge stacking was really just an
Terry
Harrington
(center)
leaves the
Clarinda
Correctional
Facility in
Iowa after
the state’s
Supreme
Court vacated
his conviction
in a 1977
murder case.