NYT: $14 Million Jury Award to Ex-Inmate Is Dismissed

[varkam]

The New York Times
March 29, 2011
Adam Liptak
Link

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a $14 million jury award in favor of a former death row inmate who was freed after prosecutorial misconduct came to light.

The 5-to-4 decision divided along the court’s ideological fault line and prompted the first dissent read from the bench this term, from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The former inmate, John Thompson, had sued Harry F. Connick, a former district attorney in New Orleans, saying his office had not trained prosecutors to turn over exculpatory evidence. Prosecutors in the office had failed to give Mr. Thompson’s lawyers a report showing that blood at a crime scene was not his.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said that only a pattern of misconduct would warrant holding Mr. Connick accountable for what happened on his watch.

[madmax]

1. 5-4 This court sux n/t

[varkam]

2. 5-4 tends to make for bad law.

This case is certainly no exception.