It was just revealed that Federal Prosecutors hid evidence that would have potentially exonerated Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, a republican.  Interestingly enough, it took a Democratic President and his democratic attorney general to admit the misconduct.  Politics and justice don't mix. As a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece explained, "The Stevens case did not occur in a vacuum, and it should not be treated as an isolated instance. Take, as examples, just a few recent cases.

•Last year, the City of New York paid $3.5 million to Shih-Wei Su, who had served nearly 13 years in prison on charges related to a shooting at a pool hall in Queens. Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit found that “the prosecution knowingly elicited false testimony from a crucial witness.”

•In the Duke University rape case of 2006, the reputations of several students were destroyed by a county district attorney pursuing political ambitions, and who was later disbarred and convicted of criminal contempt.

•In 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit took the extraordinary step of ordering the release of a convicted Wisconsin state employee during oral argument; it then reversed her federal conviction, which had been based on the government’s overreaching application of the “theft of honest services” corruption statute. She later said that the United States attorney, who had been appointed by President George W. Bush, offered her leniency if she would cooperate in a case against the governor, a Democrat in a tight re-election campaign.

•In 2005, a veteran New Jersey county prosecutor was driven from office after it was leaked to the press that he was under federal investigation for obstruction of justice. No charges were ever filed.

•In 2004, a federal judge threw out the convictions of two men accused of being part of a terrorist “sleeper cell” in Detroit after it was discovered that federal prosecutors had deliberately withheld potentially exculpatory evidence from the defense. "  To read the Op-Ed piece click here

Prosecutorial misconduct takes many forms including hiding evidence of innocence or deliberately not looking for it or making it extremely burdensome for Defense attorneys to review, over-reaching, refusal to dismiss bad cases or exercise discretion for fear of political backlash.  Some of this conduct is even legal under Georgia law.  Prosecutors are like people. Most are good but invariably there are a few bad apples.  The underlying theme is the misunderstanding of the role of the prosecutor.  First, the prosecutor shouldn't have to answer to police. As our President, the prosecutor is the commander-in-chief of the law enforcement in his jurisdiction. Police should be neutral fact finders and enforcers of legal statutes and not political operatives.  The prosecutor's role is not to seek the maximum penalty, nor exercising gamemanship  inorder to win a high number of convictions, not to advance one’s own career, as a stepping stone for a political career or a fast track to a judicial position.  Prosecutors can not be sued for malpractice for mistakes and do not have the same ethical duties that a defense lawyer has of zealous representation. The prosecutor’s only duty is enforce the law in a reasonable way in the search for justice.  That means balancing the communities need for the truth, with appropriate punishment, mercy and humility.   Prosecutors should seek clarity of poorly written or ambiguous criminal statutes or should exercise their discretion not to enforce them until made clear.  The DUI less safe statute is such an ambiguous statute.

---