Public Defense

Dallas DA wants to punish Brady violators

By Gideon

Looks like I wasn’t the only one who had prosecutorial ethics on my mind this past week. From Grits, Dallas DA Craig Watkins has about had it with these exonerations and wants to do something about it. His proposals are serious.

“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.”

Mr. Watkins said that he was still pondering what kind of punishment unethical prosecutors deserve but that the worst offenders might deserve prison time. He said he also was considering the launch of a campaign to mandate disbarment for any prosecutor found to have intentionally withheld evidence from the defense.

And he has reason to be considering such harsh penalties. Texas has already paid $8.6 million since 2001:

Of the 45 wrongful-conviction cases for which the state has paid compensation, at least 22 of them involved prosecutors withholding evidence from the defense: 19 in the infamous Tulia drug convictions and three of Dallas County’s DNA exonerations. The remainder of the payouts involved exculpatory DNA evidence or other flaws.

The article notes the paucity of sanctions against prosecutors who withhold evidence - one of the only example given is the only case in recent history where a prosecutor was disbarred: Mike Nifong in the Duke lacrosse case.

But as can be expected, there are other prosecutors who take an opposing view. John Bradley, a prosecutor in Williamson County near Austin calls Watkins’ proposal “ridiculous” and “an overreaction”.

What’s ridiculous is that innocent people spend decades in prison and the prosecutors that withheld evidence to put them there don’t get as much as a slap on the wrist. Prosecutors have a duty to do justice and to seek out the truth. To turn a blind eye when they neglect that duty and in fact take affirmative steps to circumvent justice is a big f*ck you to the whole system.

There’s absolutely no reason not to have a mandatory grievance process, at the very least, for prosecutors who intentionally withhold Brady or Giglio material.

The Innocence Project of Texas, a nonprofit legal clinic that worked to free many of the Dallas County exonerees including Mr. Woodard, supports criminalizing Brady violations. Michelle Moore, a board member of the Innocence Project and a Dallas County public defender, said that doing so would reduce the number of violations.

“If he can do 27 years behind bars,” she said of Mr. Woodard, “the prosecuting attorney can face time for hiding evidence.”

Damn straight he can. I know some prosecutors read this blog. What do you think of Watkins’ proposal? Would you be in favor of something like this in your State? If not, why not?

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Full post as published by A Public Defender on May 04, 2008 (boomark / email).