Prosecutorial Misconduct

prosecutorial misconduct

Prosecutors play a big role in the criminal justice system and have many of power in deciding what cases go to trial; can present or offer the defendant a plea bargain or a deal.  In their haste to try a person quickly, and with little delay, have been known to send the wrong person to jail to pay for a crime that he or she did not commit.  “Twelve factors causing the wrongful convictions were present in one or more cases.  Prosecutorial misconduct was the fourth most common error, appearing in thirty-three (45 percent) of the cases” (Zalman, 2008, p. 527).  The Prosecutions job is to seek justice and prosecute a case with eagerness and therefore should not use methods improperly calculated to arrive at a conviction. Due process violation if such methods happened, the conviction may indeed be overturned.

The prosecution has so much power in a courtroom it is easy to try cases fast, and with little evidence or by withholding evidence that may prove the defendant innocent. If that happens the court can reverse the ruling, if the prosecution acted wrongful and the defendant is still guilty then there is no harm done and the ruling of guilty may stand.

(“A prosecutor’s misconduct will require reversal of a conviction only where the misconduct sufficiently infected the trial so as to make it fundamentally unfair.”); Mason v. Mitchell, 320 F. 3d 604 (6th Cir. 2003) (“The misconduct must be so pronounced and persistent that it permeates the entire atmosphere of the trial”) ("Death Row Diary," 2008, para. 2).

References

Prosecutorial Misconduct; Does immunity invite injustice? (2008). Retrieved from http://lambrix.blogspot.com/2008/04/prosecutorial-misconduct-does-immunity.html

Zalman, M. (2008). Criminal Procedure (4 ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.