Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
v.
i
1. This Court Should Issue Standing Orders
That Promote Pre-Plea Compliance with
Brady Obligations and Deter Misconduct
........................................29
E. Conclusion...................................39
ii
Table of Authorities
Cases
Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78 (1935)......... 14
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963)........... passim
Brangan v. Commonwealth, 477 Mass. 691 (2017) ........... 12
Buckley v. Fitzsimmons, 509 U.S. 259 (1993)......... 23
Burns v. Reed, 500 U.S. 478 (1991).............. 23, 24
Commonwealth v. Bellini, 320 Mass. 635 (1947)........ 7
Commonwealth v. Conefrey, 420 Mass. 508 (1995)....... 9
Commonwealth v. Martin, 427 Mass. 816 (1998)........ 14
Commonwealth v. St. Germain, 381 Mass. 256 (1980)... 14
Commonwealth v. Tucceri, 412 Mass. 401 (1992)....... 13
Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51 (2011)............. 24
Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004)........... 8
Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145 (1968)............. 6
Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972)........ 13
Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409 (1976)..... 22, 23, 24
Jones v. United States, 526 U.S. 227 (1999).......... 6
Kalina v. Fletcher, 522 U.S. 118 (1997)............. 23
Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995)............... 14
Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 156 (2012) ................... 9
Ludwig v. Massachusetts, 427 U.S. 718 (1976)......... 7
Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959).............. 13
Opinions of the Justices to the Governor, 360 Mass.
877 (1971) ......................................... 7
Saucier v. Katz, 533 U.S. 194 (2001)................ 24
Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275 (1993)........... 9
United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97 (1976).......... 14
United States v. Castro, 272 F. Supp. 3d 268 (2017). 21
United States v. Hampton, 109 F. Supp. 3d 431(D. Mass.
2015) ............................................. 21
iii
United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499 (1974)....... 36
United States v. Olsen, 737 F.3d 625 (2013)..... 16, 18
United States v. Wilson, 149 F.3d 1298 (11th Cir.
1998) ............................................. 39
Wilkins v. United States, 754 F.3d 24 (1st Cir. 2014)
.................................................. 20
Constitutional Provisions
Mass. Decl. Art. 12............................... 7, 8
U.S. Const. amend. VI............................. 6, 8
Statutes
G.L. c. 211, § 3.................................... 27
42 U.S.C. § 1983................................ 22, 24
Rules
ABA Model Rule 3.8(d)............................... 15
Code of Judicial Conduct R. 2.15.................... 37
Dist. of Mass. L.R. 116.2........................... 20
Fed Ct. of the Dist. of Mass. L.R. 116.2............ 15
Fed R. Crim. P. 11(c)(5) .............................. 10
Mass. R. Crim. P. 12(d)(4) ............................ 10
Mass. R. Crim. P. 14.................... 15, 20, 30, 37
Mass. R. Prof. Conduct 3.8(d)........... 15, 30, 33, 37
Other Authorities
George Brennan, Martha’s Vineyard prosecutor guilty of
misconduct, MV Times, Oct. 30, 2017,
https://www.mvtimes.com/2017/10/30/marthas-vineyard-
prosecutor-guilty-misconduct/ ..................... 32
Alafair S. Burke, Prosecutorial, Passion, Cognitive Bias, and
Plea Bargaining, 91 Marq. L. Rev. 183 (2007)........... 17
iv
Mitchell Caldwell, The Prosecutor Prince: Misconduct,
Accountability, and a Modest Proposal, 63 Cath. U. L.
Rev. 51 (2014) ................................. 34, 44
Ctr. on Admin. of Criminal Law, Establishing
Conviction Integrity Programs in Prosecutors’
Offices, 52-56 (2011), http://www.law.nyu.edu/sites
/default/files/upload_documents/2011-CACL-Conviction-
Integrity-Programs-Report.pdf ..................... 40
Lauren-Brooke Eisen & Inimai Chettiar, Criminal Justice: An
Agenda For Candidates, Activists, and Legislators, Brennan
Center for Justice, 10 (2018),
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/
publications/2018_04_CriminalJusticeAgenda.pdf ......... 18
George Fisher, Plea Bargaining’s Triumph, 109 Yale L.J. 857,
859 (2000) ......................................... 15
Adam Frenier, Drug Convictions With Ties To Chemist Sonja
Farak Will Be Dismissed, New England Public Radio, at
http://nepr.net/post/drug-convictions-ties-chemist-
sonja-farak-will-be-dismissed#stream/0 ............ 11
Bennett L. Gershman, Litigating Brady v. Maryland:
Games Prosecutors Play, 57 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 531
(2007) ............................................ 22
Adam Gershowitz, Prosecutorial Shaming: Naming
Attorneys to Reduce Prosecutorial Misconduct, 42 U.C.
Davis L. Rev. 1059, 1069 (2009) ................... 42
Bruce A. Green, Beyond Training Prosecutors About
Their Disclosure Obligations: Can Prosecutors’
Offices Learn from Their Lawyers’ Mistakes, 31
Cardozo L. Rev. 2161 (2010) ....................... 24
Sara Gurwitch, When Self-Policing Does Not Work: A
Proposal for Policing Prosecutors in Their Obligation
v
to Provide Exculpatory Evidence to the Defense, 50
Santa Clara L. Rev. 303 (2010) .................... 43
Cynthia E. Jones, Here Comes the Judge: A Model for Judicial
Oversight and Regulation of the Brady Disclosure Duty, 46
Hofstra L. Rev. 87 (2017)........................ passim
Jason Kreagh, The Brady Colloquy, 67 Stan. L. Rev.
Online 47 ................................. 38, 39, 40
Daniel S. Medwed, Brady’s Bunch of Flaws, 67 Wash. &
Lee Rev. 1533 (2010) .......................... passim
Shawn Musgrave, Wayward Prosecutors: Scant discipline
follows prosecutors’ impropriety in Massachusetts,
New England Center for Investigative Reporting (Mar.
6, 2017) ...................................... 23, 31
Leon Neyfakh A Shocking Reminder of How Reliant Prosecutors
Are on Plea Deals, Slate Magazine (July 21, 2016),
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime
/2016/07/the_annie_dookhan_case_in_massachusetts_
shows_how_reliant_prosecutors_are.html ............ 10
Mary Prosser, Reforming Criminal Discovery: Why Old
Objections Must Yield to New Realities, 2006 Wis. L.
Rev. 541 .......................................... 36
Jed S. Rakoff, Why Innocent People Plead Guilty, The New York
Review of Books (Nov. 20, 2014), http://www.nybooks.com
/articles/2014/11/20/why-innocent-people-plead-
guilty/. ...................................... 16, 17
J.F. Reinganum, Plea Bargaining & Prosecutorial Discretion,
78 The American Economic Review 713(1988) ............. 17
Richard A. Rosen, Disciplinary Sanctions Against
Prosecutors for Brady Violations: A Paper Tiger, 65
N.C. L. Rev. 693 (1987) ........................... 34
Standing Brady Order, No. XX-XX (EGS), at
http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/sites/dcd/files
vi
/StandingBradyOrder_November2017.pdf (hereinafter
“Standing Order” .............................. 36, 37
Barry Stringfellow, Disciplinary hearing begins for
assistant district attorney, MV Times, May 3, 2017,
http://www.mvtimes.com/2017/05/03/disciplinary-
hearing-begins-assistant-district-attorney/ ... 32, 33
Emmet G. Sullivan, Enforcing Compliance with
Constitutionally-Required Disclosures: A Proposed
Rule, 2016 Cardozo L. Rev. de novo 138 ............ 36
Thomas P. Sullivan & Maurice Possley, The Chronic
Failure to Discipline Prosecutors for Misconduct:
Proposals for Reform, 105 J. Crim. L. & Criminology
881 (2015) .................................... passim
Suja A. Thomas, What Happened to the American Jury?, 43
Litigation 3, Spring 2017............................ 15
Joseph R. Weeks, No Wrong Without a Remedy: The
Effective Enforcement of the Duty of Prosecutors to
Disclose Exculpatory Evidence, 22 Okla. City U. L.
Rev. 833 (1997) ................................... 34
Emily M. West, Court Findings of Prosecutorial
Misconduct Claims in Post‐Conviction Appeals and
Civil Suits Among the First 255 DNA Exoneration
Cases, Innocence Project (Oct. 2010) .............. 23
Ellen Yaroshefsky, Foreword: New Perspectives on Brady
and Other Disclosure Obligations: What
Really Works?, 31 Cardozo L. Rev. 1943 (2010) ..... 24
Ellen Yaroshefsky, New Perspectives on Brady and Other
Disclosure Obligations: Report of the Working Groups
on Best Practices, 31 Cardozo L. Rev. 1961 .... passim
Ellen Yaroshefsky, Why Do Brady Violations Happen? Cognitive
Bias and Beyond (2013), available at
vii
http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_
scholarship/1025/ ................................. 17
Ellen Yaroshefsky, Wrongful Convictions: It Is Time to
Take Prosecution Discipline Seriously, UDC/DCSL L.
Rev. 275 (2004) ................................... 34
viii
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
1
no oversight from the judicial branch. While such a
system.
2
STATEMENT OF INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE
3
ethical and constitutional disclosure obligations under
brief.
ARGUMENT
/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2016/07/the_annie_
dookhan_case_in_massachusetts_shows_how_reliant_
4
tainted by Dookhan went to trial.”); Adam Frenier, Drug
convictions-ties-chemist-sonja-farak-will-be-
5
convictions, which undermine the integrity of the
liberties”).
6
Likewise, Article 12 of the Massachusetts
is
7
Consequently, the Constitution guarantees that the
8
275, 278 (1993); Commonwealth v. Conefrey, 420 Mass. 508
(1995).
109 Yale L.J. 857, 859 (2000) (observing that plea bargaining
“has swept across the penal landscape and driven our vanquished
now comprise all but a few convictions. See Lafler, 566 U.S.
9
/20/why-innocent-people-plead-guilty/ (last accessed Apr.
24, 2018).
to agree to. Despite the fact that judges can reject plea
10
713(1988). As many commentators have observed, regardless of
11
pressure on poor defendants to plead guilty to resolve the case
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/
publications/2018_04_CriminalJusticeAgenda.pdf (“Jailed
12
B. Prosecutorial Misconduct, Particularly in the
form of Brady Violations, Is Pervasive and
Creates a Substantial Risk of Wrongful
Convictions.
13
available, would tend to exculpate him or reduce the
14
The ethical duties of the prosecutor extend beyond
Conduct 3.8.
15
Although it has been the law of the land for over
16
Appeals and Civil Suits Among the First 255 DNA
at https://www.innocenceproject.org/wp-content/uploads
/2016/04/pmc_appeals_255_final_oct_2011.pdf. Studies of
/06/scant-discipline-follows-prosecutors-impropriety-
exculpatory evidence).
17
discover, makes it “highly unlikely wrongdoing will ever
at 1540. 2
come to light if it was not for the fact that the Amherst
18
in requesting exculpatory evidence on behalf of their
wrongdoing.
19
and accepting guilty pleas. See Mass. R. Crim. P. 14;
20
pleas, the defendant does not have the benefit of a trial
21
the court has concluded the conduct does not change the
reversed).
misconduct.
22
initiating and pursing a criminal prosecution and
23
reasonably trained prosecutor could have believed his
at 495. 3
the bar.
24
virtually no oversight or discipline of prosecutors. See
identifying them.
25
Even when disciplinary boards investigate
https://www.mvtimes.com/2017/10/30/marthas-vineyard-
http://www.mvtimes.com/2017/05/03/disciplinary-
hearing-begins-assistant-district-attorney/. Moreover,
26
rather than more serious consequences, such as
fact that the BBO found that she had committed a serious
27
systemic failures subject to discovery by diligent
28
Cardozo L. Rev. 1961, 2035 (enumerating the following
29
courts to issue orders requiring compliance with ABA
following:
30
• Deadlines for disclosure, including a requirement
that any exculpatory evidence be produced prior to
plea negotiations, see id. at 3; see also Jones,
supra, at 112 (urging that deadlines be included in
such standing orders);
31
2) Implementation of a Brady Standing Order Would
Be Improved by Active Judicial Engagement and
Checklists to Ensure Compliance.
32
• “Have you reviewed your file, and the notes and
file of any prosecutor who handled this case before
you, to determine if these materials include
information that is favorable to the defense?”
Kreagh, supra, at 50.
33
• And at trial, after the prosecution’s case-in-
chief, or the defense opening statement, “Now
that you have heard the lines of cross-
examination used by the defense and have a more
complete understanding of the theory of defense,
have you reviewed your file to determine if any
additional information must be disclosed?” Id. at
51.
34
ultimately rest allegations of misconduct”); Sullivan &
35
undermining efforts at creating a culture of compliance.
36
conducted. Id. Finally, a database would also permit
necessary. Id.
14(a)(1)(A)(iii).
37
obstacles to imposing discipline 10 is to create
38
functioning of such a body. See Sullivan & Prossley,
supra, at 932.
E. Conclusion
39
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
Thomas E. Bocian
Anna Lumelsky
Assistant Attorneys General
Criminal Bureau, Appeals Division
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
Rebecca A. Jacobstein
Committee for Public Counsel Services
44 Bromfield Street
Boston, MA 02108
Daniel N. Marx
Fick & Marx
100 Franklin Street, 7th Floor
Boston, MA 02110
Matthew Segal
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
211 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02110
Joseph A. Pieropan
Office of the District Attorney/Berkshire
7 North Street
P.O. Box 1969
Pittsfield, MA 01202-1969
Patrick 0. Romberg
Office of the District Attorney/Bristol
888 Purchase Street
P.O. Box 973
New Bedford, MA 02740
42