By Brandon L. Garrett, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law.
Is it obvious that prosecutors cannot hide evidence of a defendant’s innocence? Can an entire prosecutor’s office fail to take that obligation seriously? What if that happens and an innocent man spends 18 years in prison and is nearly executed – could the office then be held responsible? What if they buried a forensic lab report that would have provided scientific evidence of innocence?
The Supreme Court addressed those questions in its ruling this week in Connick v. Thompson. John Thompson spent 18 years in prison and came within weeks of execution for a murder he did not commit. Prosecutors had concealed a key lab report with a blood test from the victim’s clothing, which the culprit had bled on, as well a series of other items including eyewitness statements describing an attacker who did not at all resemble Thompson.
In a chilling ruling, the majority, split along 5-4 lines, said that the issue raised “nuance[d]” and technical questions, but in a formalistic and circular way, said that there was no “obvious” need for prosecutors to be trained on such “gray areas.”
When prosecutorial misconduct came to light in the Duke Lacrosse case, did we dismiss Mike Nifong’s actions as a technical issue? Or when it came to light that key evidence was concealed from the defense in the Ted Stevens prosecution? Yet in a cavalier prosecutor’s office without careful training and procedures, such serious violations will occur; shouldn’t that much be obvious?
A bipartisan group of former senior Department of Justice attorneys and other federal prosecutors recently lodged an