The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers supports codification of the prosecution’s obligation to provide discovery to the defense of all information favorable to the accused, as required by Brady v. Maryland but not consistently enforced in the federal district courts. The holding in Brady v. Maryland required the prosecutor to disclose to the defense all information favorable to the accused, pertaining to either the determination of guilt or imposition of sentencing. Many commentators have observed that the rule of Brady is simply not the rule in our courts. The resulting injustice in individual cases, and persistent claims — and findings — of the suppression of favorable information and actual wrongful convictions as a result, led the NACDL to develop the following reform proposal.
Reform Proposals
Reports
- "Accounting for Bad Prosecutors," The Crime Report, February 21, 2012.
- "Former district attorney should face inquiry in Morton prosecution, judge says," American-Statesman, February 10, 2012.
- "Judge Asks for Court of Inquiry Into Morton Prosecutor," The Texas Tribune, February 10, 2012.
- "Judge Orders Release Of Ted Stevens Prosecutorial Misconduct Report," The Blog of Legal Times, February 8, 2012.
- "Murkowski Welcomes News on Prosecutorial Misconduct Report," Senator Lisa Murkowski's Press Office, February 8, 2012.
- "Release the Stevens Report," The New York Times,
February 7, 2012.
- "Taxpayers pay to defend prosecutors in Ted Stevens case," USA Today, February 2, 2012.
- "Grand jury won't indict DA's office, but issues strong rebuke," Chron.com, February 1, 2012.
- "Judge set to consider special court in Morton case," Statesman, January 24, 2012.
- "Misconduct in New Orleans?" The Washington Post, January 16, 2012.
- "Did prosecutors suppress evidence in Morton case?" Houston Chronicle, January 13, 2012.
- "Court Ruling Reignites Debate Over Sharing Evidence," NPR, January 12, 2012.
- "High Court Reverses Conviction in Killings," The New York Times, January 10, 2012.
- "Supreme Court Tosses Murder Conviction for Brady Violation by New Orleans DA," ABA Journal, January 10, 2012.
- "Prosecutors Gone Wild: How Many Wrongful Convictions Will the Public Stand for?" The Huffington Post, January 6, 2012
- "Stop the prosecutorial misconduct," Houston Chronicle, December 30, 2011.
- "Editorial: Justice and Prosecutorial Misconduct," The New York Times, December 28, 2011.
- "Morton Case Shows Need for Discovery Reform," NACDL News Release, December 19, 2011.
- "Senators to Justice Department: Sack prosecutors, apologize to Stevens family," The Hill, December 14, 2011.
- "Morton lawyers put prosecution on defense," Austin American-Statesman, December 6, 2011.
- "Could botched Ted Stevens prosecution prompt federal legal system reform?," Alaska Dispatch, November 28, 2011.
- "Defending the Brady rule," The Los Angeles Times, November 21, 2011.
- "Systemic Concealment in Ted Stevens Case: New Law Needed to Prevent Future Injustices," NACDL News Release, November 21, 2011.
- "Legislation Would Enforce Government's Duty To Disclose Favorable Information to Accused," NACDL News Release, July 7, 2011.
Resources
- Joel B. Rudin, The Supreme Court Assumes Errant Prosecutors Will Be Disciplined by Their Offices or the Bar: Three Case Studies that Prove that Assumption Wrong, 80 Fordham L. Rev. 537 (2011)
- North Carolina Disclosure Statute
- Criminal Discovery in Canada: R. v. Stinchcombe
- Judge Sullivan’s Order of Nov. 21, 2011 (In re Special Proceedings, Misc. No. 09-0198)
- Cardozo Law Review, New Perspectives on Brady and Other Disclosure Obligations: What Really Works?, Vol. 31 No. 6 (June 2010)
- Daniel S. Medwed, Brady’s Bunch of Flaws, 67 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1533 (2010)
- DOJ Guidance for Prosecutors Regarding Criminal Discovery, January 4, 2010
- Robert P. Mosteller, Exculpatory Evidence, Ethics, and the Road to the Disbarment of Mike Nifong: The Critical Importance of Full Open-File Discovery (2008)
- Jenny Roberts, Too Little, Too Late: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, The Duty to Investigate, And Pretrial Discovery in Criminal Cases, 31 Fordham Urb. L.J. 1097 (2003-2004)