TCP called on the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify award of atty. fees for prosecutorial misconduct.

In 2008, Miami doctor Ali Shaygan was the victim of gross prosecutorial misconduct during his criminal trial for prescription drug-related charges. Among other things, federal prosecutors intentionally withheld exculpatory evidence from Shaygan, who was eventually acquitted of every charge in the 141-count indictment. Under a federal law called the Hyde Amendment, federal judges have the power to force the government to pay reasonable attorneys’ fees to acquitted defendants if the actions of the government lawyers were "vexatious, frivolous or in bad faith," and a federal district court found that Shaygan’s case met these criteria. However, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the lower court’s decision, ruling that there could be no Hyde Amendment award for the Brady violations no matter how egregious the prosecutors’ conduct, so long as there were reasonable grounds to file the initial indictment.

In an amicus brief filed on August 9 with the generous pro bono assistance of Bryan Cave attorneys, TCP called on the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify that the Hyde Amendment empowers a judge to require the Department of Justice to pay attorneys' fees when prosecutors intentionally withhold favorable evidence from prevailing defendants.

The amicus brief notes that The Constitution Project has issued several reports calling for stronger Brady enforcement.Earlier this year, the group assembled nearly 150 criminal justice experts --more than 100 of whom are former federal prosecutors -- who agree that Congress should act to reduce instances of prosecutorial misconduct by clarifying the standards for required disclosure and imposing meaningful penalties when they are violated. The latter brief was highlighted by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and the Legal Times.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs092/1101561619973/archive/1110692855121.html

A call for Congress to reform federal criminal discovery:
http://constitutionproject.org/pdf/callforcriminaldiscoveryreform.pdf?utm_source=PR%3A+Shaygan+Amicus+Filed+with+Sup+Ct&utm_campaign=Shaygan+Amicus+Filed&utm_medium=archive