The Brady issues over there have been going on for many many years. And it hasn't stopped.
Another example: Judge Altonaga was presiding over a CJA trial involving allegations of smuggling arms to Haiti.
There was a big fight over Brady material. Then, after a witness testified, the prosecutors turned over Brady material that contradicted the testimony from the day before.
Mistrial ordered.
And the following order issued:
Thank goodness for Chief Judge Altonaga, who is willing to not only call out prosecutors when they mess up, but do something about it as well.
We all know a bunch of judges who would have yelled at the prosecutors but then denied the motion to mistrial and nothing happens. This is what it's supposed to look like. Hopefully it will help deter this conduct in the future.
WHY NOT JUST HAND EVERYTHING OVER IN ADVANCE?
11 comments:
Given that "We all know a bunch of judges who would have yelled at the prosecutors but then denied the motion to mistrial and nothing happens," I suppose this is a step in the correct direction. But the AUSA's are still protected. When these things happen to defense lawyers, they get sanctioned, bar complaints, investigated, and sometimes indicted.
Pat Dray is a badass.
The 11th Circuit heard a few cases this week featuring AUSA misconduct and incompetence.
who are the AUSAs?
Ill tell you why this is a recurring issue. The AUSAs are being trained by highly inexperienced supervisors. In fact, the AUSAs in this case were both trained by a deputy who has been subject of Brady violations and discovery violations... not only that, but the deputy was under investigation for practicing without having a valid license! What did the office do? Promote her again!!!
It was just a matter of time before the sloppiness and unethical behavior caught on
please name the supervisor so the rest of us can be on high alert for anything she manages...
I agree AUSAs are protected, but I don't think the defense bar is as "punished" for violations as one of the comments suggest.
Finally, and candidly... do most of you believe their repeated Brady violations are intentional or just the AUSAs are utterly incompetent as to discovery and actually unprepared for trials... Amazing when they claim... I just read this 302/MOI... who waits till trial begins to read "all" the interview reports. smh
But seriously... incompetence or intentional decision... ???
It's likely a combination of the two. I can count on one hand the number of AUSAs that have an open discovery policy. Those AUSAs turn over everything from the onset, including Jenks. They have nothing to hide and I appreciate it.
Thr majority don't. They play games over when they need to turn anything over or they play the willful ignorance card. Either way, it bites them in the rear eventually. The frequency of Brady violations now is overwhelming.
To all AUSAs
Brady is not only the law of the land, it’s G-d’s law:
Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,when it is in your power to do it.
Apparently, the lack of ethics and/or incompetence - and definitely the Brady violations - is a shared epidemic by our So. Fla. state and federal prosecutors.
When a lawyer commits a sanctionable offense on the civil side, the judges name the attorney in the order. Why do AUSAs always remain anonymous and get to largely keep their reputations intact?
I am not sure this means what you think it does. The Constitution saying it needs to be turned over is good enough for me.
Does anybody know what the actual substance of the material was?
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