Prosecutorial discovery demands reform.
A court-appointed special prosecutor's report made public on Thursday details findings that U.S. Justice Department attorneys intentionally withheld information from the defense in the bungled prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
The Stevens investigation and prosecution "were permeated by the systematic concealment" of key evidence that would have been beneficial to his defense and "seriously damaged the testimony and credibility" of the government's key witness, former Veco chief Bill Allen, the report said.
The 514-page report, by Washington lawyer Henry Schuelke, was released Thursday by order of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who presided over Stevens' 2008 trial and hired Schuelke to evaluate whether anyone on the Stevens prosecution team should be charged with criminal contempt of court.
Schuelke did not recommend criminal charges. He said the problems he found did not rise to the legal level of criminal contempt because the judge never issued any direct order the attorneys disobeyed.
(click on link below to read the 514 page report)
http://media.thenewstribune.com/smedia/2012/03/15/08/12/1fPqVX.So.7.pdf
"Were there a clear, specific and unequivocal order of the Court which commanded the disclosure of this information, we are satisfied that a criminal contempt prosecution would lie," he wrote.
"We conclude, however, that the record demonstrates that Judge Sullivan admonished the Government to 'follow the law' and did not issue a clear, specific and unequivocal order such that it would support a finding by a District Court, beyond a reasonable doubt, that (the contempt law) had been violated," the report found.
Read more here: http://wwThe Supreme Court's holding in Brady v. Maryland requires the prosecutor to disclose to the defense all information favorable to the accused, pertaining to either the determination of guilt or imposition of sentencing. As many commentators have observed, the rule of Brady is simply not the rule in our courts. The resulting injustice - as evidenced by persistent claims and findings of the suppression of favorable information and actual wrongful convictions - calls for real change. NACDL supports codification of the prosecution’s obligation to provide discovery to the dhttp://www.nacdl.org/discoveryreform/efense of all information favorable to the accused. w.thenewstribune.com/2012/03/15/2067970/stevens-prosecutors-intentionally.html#storylink=cpy http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/03/15/2067970/stevens-prosecutors-intentionally.html
NACDL calls for discovery reform:
The Supreme Court's holding in Brady v. Maryland requires the prosecutor to disclose to the defense all information favorable to the accused, pertaining to either the determination of guilt or imposition of sentencing. As many commentators have observed, the rule of Brady is simply not the rule in our courts. The resulting injustice - as evidenced by persistent claims and findings of the suppression of favorable information and actual wrongful convictions - calls for real change. NACDL supports codification of the prosecution’s obligation to provide discovery to the defense of all information favorable to the accused.
http://www.nacdl.org/discoveryreform/
Read http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/03/15/2067970/stevens-prosecutors-intentionally.htmlmore here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/03/15/2067970/stevens-prosecutors-intentionally.html#storylink=cpy