Uncensored Justice System Discussion

JUSTICE1st · Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 715 Location: USA

Here are some links discussing cases and criteria for prosecutorial and police misconduct.

U.S. Constitution Annotated - Prosecutorial Misconduct
http://supreme.justia.com/constitution/amendment-14/58-prosecutorial-misconduct.html

[Quote from first 3 paragraphs]

"Prosecutorial Misconduct.—

"When a conviction is obtained by the presentation of testimony known to the prosecuting authorities to have been perjured, due process is violated. The clause "cannot be deemed to be satisfied by mere notice and hearing if a State has contrived a conviction through the pretense of a trial which in truth is but used as a means of depriving a defendant of liberty through a deliberate deception of court and jury by the presentation of testimony known to be perjured. Such a contrivance . . . is as inconsistent with the rudimentary demands of justice as is the obtaining of a like result by intimidation."1032

The above quoted language was dictum in the case in which it was set forth,1033 but the principle enunciated has required state officials to controvert allegations that knowingly false testimony had been used to convict1034 and has upset convictions found to have been so procured.1035 Extending the principle, the Court in Miller v. Pate1036 overturned a conviction obtained after the prosecution had represented to the jury that a pair of men's shorts found near the scene of a sex attack belonged to the defendant and that they were stained with blood; the defendant showed in a habeas corpus proceeding that no evidence connected him with the shorts and furthermore that the shorts were not in fact bloodstained, and that the prosecution had known these facts.

This line of reasoning has even resulted in the disclosure to the defense of information not relied upon by the prosecution during trial.1037 In Brady v. Maryland,1038 the Court held "that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution." In that case, the prosecution had suppressed an extrajudicial confession of defendant's accomplice that he had actually committed the murder.1039 "The heart of the holding in Brady is the prosecution's suppression of evidence, in the face of a defense production request, where the evidence is favorable to the accused and is material either to guilt or to punishment. Important, then, are (a) suppression by the prosecution after a request by the defense, (b) the evidence's favorable character for the defense, and (c) the materiality of the evidence."1040 " "

[End Quote]

Criminal Appeal: Prosecutorial Misconduct
http://www.crimblawg.com/prosecutorial_misconduct/index.html

Police and Prosecutorial Misconduct
http://www.truthinjustice.org/p-pmisconduct.htm

Crackdown on Prosecutor Conduct
http://truthinjustice.org/crackdown.htm

Defendants can actively assist in their own cases when they can do research into these acts of either prosecutorial or police misconduct and determine what actions of misconduct may have been a factor in their own trials.

J Cool

_________________
"We must remember, always, that accusation is not proof, and conviction depends on evidence and due process of law."
EDWARD R. MURROW, 1954