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WWDYT: The ethics of the post-trial jury reveal

By ambimb

This week’s Wednesday What Do You Think*: Is it ethical for a prosecutor to reveal to a jury after that the person they just convicted or acquitted had prior criminal convictions that were excluded from evidence? As defense attorneys we more often than not represent clients with prior criminal records. Of course we always move to exclude those priors as irrelevant, more prejudicial than probative, etc., and probably most of the time we win those motions. Yet, whenever a court excluded priors it seems common for prosecutors to go out of their way after the trial to make sure the jurors know that fact ? either to make the jurors feel good about convicting or to make them feel awful about acquitting. A juror who convicts and then learns the defendant had priors gets confirmation that his/her decision was correct and will be more likely to convict in the future because he/she will assume that there are bad things he/she is not learning about in evidence at trial...continue to full post

Full post as published by Public Defender Stuff on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).