Prosecutor misconduct threatens fair trials

[DeSwiss]

Prosecutor misconduct threatens fair trials
201 misconduct cases reviewed

By Brad Heath and Kevin McCoy | USA TODAY • and Brian Haas | THE TENNESSEAN • September 23, 2010

Assistant U.S. Attorney Delk Kennedy Jr. acknowledges he lost his temper during closing arguments at a 1998 bank robbery case in Nashville when the defense raised questions about a key eyewitness. "I jumped up and said, 'It's a lie, it's a lie, it's a lie,' " Kennedy said Wednesday. "The closing argument in any case, that's when emotions run high." But the outburst nearly cost the federal government a conviction and led to a federal appeals court rebuking Kennedy for conduct that "misrepresented critical evidence at the close of trial" and probably influenced jurors.

In a West Tennessee federal court, a prosecutor withheld evidence in a 1992 mail fraud case that led to a conviction being overturned. Another prosecutor there tried to convince a jury that by putting someone on the stand, he was "vouching" for a witness' honesty. The conviction was upheld, but an appeals court called the prosecutor's actions "improper and even inexcusable."

Federal prosecutors are supposed to seek justice, not merely score convictions. But a USA TODAY investigation found that prosecutors have repeatedly violated that duty in courts across the country. Judges have warned for decades that misconduct by prosecutors threatens the Constitution's promise of a fair trial. Congress in 1997 enacted a law to end the abuses. Yet USA TODAY documented 201 criminal cases in the years that followed in which judges determined that U.S. Justice Department prosecutors themselves violated laws or ethics rules.

In case after case, judges blasted prosecutors for "flagrant" or "outrageous" misconduct. They caught some prosecutors hiding evidence, found others lying to judges and juries, and said still others had broken plea bargains.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100923/NEWS03/9230335/Prosecutor+misconduct+threatens+fair+trials">MORE

[LiberalFighter]

1. What are the sanctions?

If they lie in court they should lose their license to practice law.

[DeSwiss]

4. From what the article says.....

...there have been NO sanctions.

- Which is why it won't stop.

[Uben]

2. Great justice system, huh?

If these prosecutors are not disbarred, where is the justice? They hold people's lives in their hands and are expected to live up to high standards. The fact they do this to further their careers is apalling, and should be criminal.

[DeSwiss]

5. Nation of laws.....

...my ass!

[tularetom]

3. Anything for a conviction

Sometimes it doesn't even matter if it's the right person.

My neighbor was the county DA. Right wing nut job from the gitgo. Never met a defendant that wasn't guilty particularly if they were a Mexican. He employed some questionable tactics from time to time and got his weenie wacked more than once by the groups that monitor these things. Dumped his wife for his 27 year old secretary and then went prematurely senile at age 62 and got put in a home by his trophy wife. His first wife is still my neighbor, caring for 120 acres at age 75. She still laughs about how he ended up.

[DeSwiss]

6. So there is some justice....

...when meted out by Mother Nature.