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Dallas DA proposes penalties for "Brady" violations

By Gritsforbreakfast

Demonstrating there's always more than one way to skin a cat, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins has proposed a way to break through the perennial debate over whether DA's should have "open files" in criminal cases to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence: leave the rules the way they are and establish criminal penalties for prosecutors who violate "Brady" rules about disclosing exculpatory evidence.In the Dallas News today ("Dallas county district attorney wants unethical prosecutors punished," May 4), he's quoted declaring:"Something should be done," said Craig Watkins, whose jurisdiction leads the nation in the number of DNA exonerations. "If the harm is a great harm, yes, it should be criminalized."Wrongful convictions, nearly half of them involving prosecutorial misconduct, have cost Texas taxpayers $8...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 04, 2008 (boomark / email).