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June 07, 2014
Blowing it in Brooklyn: When prosecutors withhold evidence favorable to the accused.
Sometimes winning isn't everything. To be sure, there are times when winning is ugly and disturbing.
This morning I was riveted to "For a Respected Prosecutor, An Unpardonable Failure", by Joaquin Sapien at ProPublica, the non-profit investigative journalism project launched in 2007 that won Pultizer prizes for reporting in 2010 and 2011.
Every criminal defense lawyer is familiar with the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling 50 years ago that suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to a defendant who has requested it violates due process. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) . As a result of Brady, federal and state prosecutors are in effect under a continuing obligation to disclose information or evidence which tends to prove the innocence of a criminal defendant, or would allow the defense to impeach the credibility of government witnesses.*
Sapien has written a fine article about wrenching and almost unfathomable consequences for defendants and their families when even well-regarded Assistant U.S. Attorneys or Assistant District Attorneys fail to turn over exculpatory evidence and information. Lengthy but excellent.
*Prosecutors under Brady are also required to turn over evidence or information which could be used to reduce a sentence.
(Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo)
Jonathan Fleming (above hugging one of his lawyers) was 27 when he reported to prison after his conviction on a murder charge. Last month, after serving 24 years in prison of a 25 year sentence, Fleming, now 51, was released. The withheld evidence in his case was a time-stamped phone bill and a communication from the Orlando police (indicating Fleming was seen around his Orlando hotel at the time of the Brooklyn murder) that powerfully supported Fleming's alibi he was in Orlando, Florida rather than Brooklyn at the time the murder occurred.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2014
Normandy, 6:30 a.m., June 6, 1944: Our fathers and grandfathers. My heroes. The last American class.
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Allied forces' invasion of Normandy. Although June 6, 1944 would be celebrated as the eventual end of the war in Europe, much (if not most) of the execution of the plan for the invasion's earliest hours was botched. Improvisation by the first American, British and Canadian soldiers to reach French soil won the day.
But before any of that success could be achieved, the men who were the first to arrive would experience, and eventually overcome, unexpected hell, horror and carnage that no training could have prepared them for.
This was especially true of the landing at Omaha beach. For too many--military historians think this was deliberate if strategic--Omaha was their first time in combat. At Omaha alone, there were nearly 2500 casualties, mostly in the first 2 hours, so that 34,000 could be landed on the beach by the end of the day.
It was our fathers and grandfathers, for the most part frightened but dutiful young men, who struggled onto Omaha and those five other Normandy beaches that day. These are the guys I think about more and more as I get older. We will never equal them in character, grit or resilience. That day and what they did? This is our real American class.
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16th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, Easy Red Sector, Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944. © Robert Capa.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:12 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2014
Blaise Pascal: On Brevity.
I have made this letter longer--because I have not had the time to make it shorter.
--Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), mathematician, physicist, philosopher, in "Lettres Provinciales", No. 16, 1657
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2014
Client Money.
Rule 8 is Think Like the Client--Help Control Costs. Knowing what the client is paying your firm informs and affects the strategy of every big project and, if the stakes are high enough, affects even the overall business strategy of the client.
(MTV/Mike Judge)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)