HUFFINGTON
08.04.13
AP PHOTO/L.G. PATTERSON
THE UNTOUCHABLES
informants and requiring video
recording of police interrogations. The measures passed both
houses of the state legislature, but
were then vetoed by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger after heavy lobbying by the California District
Attorney’s Association.
Common misconceptions
among prosecutors about their
Brady obligations remain, and
disabusing them of those notions
may be an important first step toward reform. “I think education of
prosecutors can help,” Plattsmier
says. “We’ve been working with
DAs to make sure their offices
are thoroughly educated on their
Brady obligations.”
Plattsmier says one misperception concerns the materiality test
the Supreme Court has laid out
for Brady violations. This is the
doctrine that says that even if a
prosecutor withheld information
favorable to the defense, the conviction can stand if the withheld
information likely wouldn’t have
altered the verdict.
“Some prosecutors have assumed that gives them the authority to decide what information is and isn’t material to guilt.
But that isn’t how it works. It
isn’t up to their discretion. From
Rep. Kenny
Hulshof (RMo.) gives his
concession
speech in
Missouri’s
gubernatorial
race in 2008.