Prosecutor Misconduct Summary

Elaine Cassel, who practices law in Virginia and the District of Washington provided two incidents of prosecutor misconduct in her article Prosecutor Misconduct in Two Recent High-Profile Cases: Why It Happens, and How We Can Better Prevent It. In the first case a defendant was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering his wife and sentenced to life in prison; conversely it was also found that the prosecutor included evidence that was admissible in court. In the second case a defendant was found guilty of “terrorist activities.” An inmate who claimed he heard stories about the defendant’s involvement in “terrorist activities” was used as a witness. However, the persecutor left out sufficient evidence including a letter from the witness, bragging that he was making up this story to try to get out of his own legal troubles (Cassel, 2004). Although each prosecutor demonstrated misconduct, they were not faced with any disciplinary actions. …show more content…
The right to a fair trial is a part of the due process clause. Including evidence that is inadmissible to court or concealing evidence can result in an unjust conviction. It is imperative that prosecutors include all evidence including “exculpatory evidence, (which is evidence that exonerates the defendant of guilt) under Brady v. Maryland” (Cassel, 2004) and disregard evidence that is prohibited. Former United States Circuit judge Alex Kozinski declares, “there are countless ways in which prosecutors can tamper with the fact-finding process and undermine a defendant’s right to a fair trial. This, of course, is not their job” (Kozinski, 2015,