Prosecutorial Misconduct And Florida Criminal Cases
In most contexts, two wrongs don’t make a right. If your brother complains to your mother that you hit him, and you protest, “He hit me first,” your mother’s response will probably be that you are both wrong. In divorce cases where both spouses had extramarital affairs, the court does not automatically award the greater share of marital property to the spouse that stayed faithful longer. Criminal cases are not about who is right and who is wrong. Instead, they are about whether you are guilty of the charges against you beyond a reasonable doubt and, if yes, whether the state used legitimate means to persuade the jury of this. You don’t have to be innocent to get acquitted; there must only be reasonable doubt about your guilt. Sometimes the untrustworthy actions of prosecutors are sufficient to establish reasonable doubt. For help identifying the state’s missteps in its investigation and prosecution of your case, contact a West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer.
What Is Prosecutorial Misconduct, and How Does It Affect Your Case?
Any piece of evidence that the state uses against you is only admissible in court if the state obtained it through lawful means, without violating any of your rights. For example, if police searched your house without a warrant and found illegal drugs, they cannot tell the jury about those drugs or show them the zip top bags full of powder or the forensics lab results about the composition of that powder. Furthermore, the state must disclose any evidence that may work in your favor, so that you may incorporate it into your defense strategy. Failure to do this is prosecutorial misconduct.
These are some of the forms that prosecutorial misconduct can take:
- Bribing witnesses to provide false testimony against you by offering them lenient sentences or immunity from prosecution
- Failure to make Brady disclosures about prior misconduct by police officers involved in your case
- Failure to disclose evidence that could cast doubt on your guilt
- Unfairly including evidence obtained illegally or excluding evidence obtained legally
It should not be the job of your criminal defense lawyer to uncover prosecutorial misconduct. The District Attorney’s office should monitor the activities of its employees and notify defense lawyers when it becomes aware of misconduct related to a pending case or one where a defendant has already been convicted or entered a guilty plea. This does not always happen, though. Sometimes your criminal defense attorney can only find out about the misconduct through persistence and careful examination of documents and other evidence. If you were unfairly convicted due to prosecutorial misconduct, you are entitled to a new trial. If your case is still going on and you think that the prosecutors are not being honest, now is the time to talk to your lawyer about it.
Contact a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer Today
Attorney William Wallshein has more than 38 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County. Contact William Wallshein P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
davisvanguard.org/2024/06/nations-defense-bar-initiates-action-to-combat-prosecutorial-misconduct-in-florida/
