Free Republic

The ethics of Brady v. Maryland By: Commentary: March 2, 2023 Due process lies at the heart of American jurisprudence. Sixty years ago, in the seminal case of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a prosecutor’s suppression of material evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process. According to the Brady court, the due process violation stems from the failure to disclose, not the reasons for the failure. In practice, however, the reasons behind a Brady violation are important and raise significant ethical issues. The Supreme Court of Maryland has expressed...

With the release of the new material from the case of Michael Flynn, an array of experts came forward to assure the public that it was all standard procedure for investigators to conclude that there was no criminal conduct uncovered and then prosecutors creating a crime (including the use of a clearly unconstitutional law never used to convict anyone since the start of the Republic). Many of these same experts who have been espousing untethered (and ultimately rejected) theories for criminal and impeachment charges for years. Yet, what was most striking is how many also rejected any claim that the...

FULL TITLE: 'Clear causal link': Lawyers accuse Kamala Harris of defying Supreme Court by hiding evidence from defense attorneys While district attorney for San Francisco, Kamala Harris withheld evidence that could have exonerated defendants on multiple occasions, in violation of a key due process ruling by the Supreme Court. Between 2004 and 2010, Harris’s office failed to inform defense attorneys about criminal and professional misconduct records that raised questions about the credibility of government witnesses. The lapses led to the dismissal of nearly 1,000 cases and a scathing 2010 ruling by a Superior Court judge that accused Harris’ office of...