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"Vigilante Justice: Prosecutor Misconduct in Capital Cases"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this new paper (with four co-authors) appearing on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: This Article examines categories of prosecutor misconduct that may occur in capital cases, and it discusses suggestions to help prevent and remedy such misconduct.  The prosecutor?s role is especially important in death penalty cases because the prosecutor is a determining force in the decision of whether a defendant will live or die.  Thus, even though prosecutor misconduct is an important concern for all types of cases, it has a special impact in capital cases. Instances of prosecutor misconduct may occur prior to trial during discovery, during jury selection, and during trial and post-trial.  In Part One of the Article, we discuss situations where prosecutors withhold exculpatory evidence from defendants in capital cases...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 07, 2010 (boomark / email).