Voices
A recent study found prosecutorial misconduct in nearly
one-quarter of all capital cases in
Arizona. Only two of those prosecutors have been reprimanded
or punished. This led the Arizona
Republic to conclude:
There seldom are consequences
for prosecutors, regardless of
whether the miscarriage of
justice occurred because of ineptness or misconduct. In fact,
they are often congratulated.
Fortunately, there is something
very simple that judges across the
country can do to eradicate this
problem. All judges, state and
federal, should issue the standing “ethical rule order” proposed
by the Hon. Nancy Gertner and
Innocence Project Co-Founder
Barry Scheck. The proposed order
requires prosecutors to disclose,
pre-trial, all evidence that “tends
to negate the guilt of the accused
or mitigates the offense.” Details
regarding the proposed ethical rule
order, including all the justifications supporting it, can be found
in this article by Barry Scheck.
The reason such standing ethical
rule orders are important is that
they allow prosecutors, like Ken
MARK
GODSEY
HUFFINGTON
11.24-12.01.13
Anderson, to be held in criminal
contempt if they are later found to
have engaged in misconduct. Anderson could be punished today
only because such an order had
been issued in the Morton case.
The conviction of Ken Anderson
stands out as an extreme aberration in a society where police and
prosecutorial misconduct goes
largely unpunished. But it is a step
in the right direction. Hopefully,
Anderson pled to
criminal contempt, and
will have to give up his law
license, perform 500 hours
of community service,
and spend 10 days in jail.”
this result will deter rogue cops
and prosecutors in the future from
engaging in similar misconduct.
But this will happen only if judges
across the country do what the
judge did more than 25 years ago
in the Morton case: issue an order
requiring that proper disclosure to
the defense, or risk criminal contempt proceedings.
Mark Godsey is a law professor and the
director of the Ohio Innocence Project.