prosecutor

At this unique moment in American history, liberals and conservatives have something in common: an abhorrence of government prosecutors run amok.

Put aside partisan politics for a moment and let's be real: For every honest and principled prosecutor working in the courts, there are obsessive Captain Queegs in office searching for political wins (strawberries!) instead of seeking the truth.

McDonough v. Smith August 3, 2018

(United States Second Circuit) - Affirmed that a district attorney was not liable for malicious prosecution or fabrication of evidence. This lawsuit was brought by the former Democratic Commissioner of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections, who was acquitted in state court of forging absentee ballots in a local primary election. He contended that the district attorney who prosecuted the case had violated his civil rights. However, the Second Circuit held that the plaintiff's due process claim was time-barred and his malicious prosecution claim was precluded by absolute immunity. The panel therefore affirmed the dismissal of those claims.

Prosecutors who bend or even break the rules to win a conviction almost never face any punishment. But even given lax controls, the blatant and systemic misconduct in the Orange County district attorney’s office in Southern California stands out. In a scheme that may go back as far as 30 years, prosecutors and the county sheriff’s department have elicited illegal jailhouse confessions, failed to turn over evidence that is favorable to defendants and lied repeatedly in court about what they did.

Today in Texas, former prosecutor and judge Ken Anderson pled guilty to intentionally failing to disclose evidence in a case that sent an innocent man, Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of his wife. When trying the case as a prosecutor, Anderson possessed evidence that may have cleared Morton, including statements from the crime's only eyewitness that Morton wasn't the culprit. Anderson sat on this evidence, and then watched Morton get convicted. While Morton remained in prison for the next 25 years, Anderson's career flourished, and he eventually became a judge.

Evidence of a convicted murderer’s possible innocence sat buried in a case file for more than two decades. Now, a prosecutor in Brooklyn will have to answer for the mistake.

Update 06/10/2014 11:54 a.m.: As of last week, James Leeper was no longer employed by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. A spokeswoman for the office would not provide further comment as to why his employment ceased after 27 years of service. He’d previously been suspended after he missed a critical proceeding in a May murder trial due to his drinking.