THE OPEN FILE
Prosecutorial Misconduct and Accountability
TX: Turns Out Playing a YouTube Video of a Lion Trying to Eat a Child in a Simple Robbery Case Will Undo A Conviction
Sometimes it feels like this website provides public service announcements to prosecutors, making it clear what they are not allowed to do. If these announcements strike you as catering to the lowest-common-denominator, well, we don’t really know what to say (except,...
UT: Death Row Inmate Wins New Hearing Because State Suppressed Benefits It Gave to Key Witnesses
Utah death row inmate Douglas Carter has a new evidentiary hearing to look forward to in light of the Utah Supreme Court’s recent opinion in his case. The opinion—which stems from Carter’s appeal of a post-conviction court’s summary denial—is a model of fairness. In...
Prosecutors Continue to Duck Brady By Sitting on Exculpatory Evidence Until the Last Minute
Prosecutors’ withholding of exculpatory information until the eve of trial in two recent cases in two different states serves as an important reminder that the tactic is commonplace. In both cases, the stakes couldn’t be higher, with defendants going to trial on...
AZ: The Juan Martinez Saga Continues
It feels like there should be little left to say, but here we are again. Juan Martinez, Maricopa’s hot-shot prosecutor, is in the news. He craves the spotlight, there is no doubt about that. On March 1, the State Bar of Arizona filed a formal complaint against him...
TX: Alfred Brown Actually Innocent; Unethical Prosecutor Could Face New Round of Ethical Scrutiny
Alfred Brown’s case—one we have covered several times over the years—reached an important milestone this past week. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg “has officially declared Alfred Dewayne Brown, who was on death row for almost 10 years, innocent. An...
Lorena and Paul: Why the #MeToo Movement Can’t Rely On Prosecutorial Protection
In the words of Tammy Wynette, “sometimes it’s hard to be a woman.” Just as she sang, being a feminist who supports survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence and also believes in decarceration and criminal justice reform can be difficult, especially when trying...
WI: A Tip of the Hat to a Good Brady Ruling
Professor Colin Miller—of “Undisclosed” podcast fame—recently wrote an in-depth and helpful post about an important new Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion addressing the Brady doctrine. In State v. Wayerski, the court wrangled and slayed a dangerous beast we at The Open...
HI: Honolulu’s Prosecuting Attorney and former deputy at the center of a massive public corruption scandal
Honolulu’s top prosecutor, Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro, is embroiled in a sprawling tale of corruption and malfeasance that is now threatening the very legitimacy of his leadership. From local voters to Hawaii’s Attorney General, the calls for Kaneshiro to...
Will IL’s New Jailhouse Informant Law Actually Work?
Ah, our old friend: unreliable jailhouse informant testimony. When the state’s case is based on weak evidence, when prosecutors are under added pressure to convict for, say, the murder of a cop, here it comes. Prosecutors just keep on using it. Maybe they do so...
How Prosecutors Use their Power to Obstruct Clemency and Parole Processes
Prosecutorial power comes in many forms. In some ways, District Attorneys’ ‘soft’ power—the influence they wield outside of the courtroom and inside other halls of power—can be equally damaging to both public policy and case outcomes as their use of discretion in...
The Trouble with Brady Lists
There has been a more robust dialogue lately about “Brady lists”—lists of discredited police officers whom prosecutors either refuse to rely upon as witnesses or whose cases they refuse to prosecute. These lists can play an important role in ensuring that a...
TX: State Bar Dismisses Grievance Against Harris County Prosecutor, But Brown’s Case for ‘Actual Innocence’ is Not Closed
The Texas State Bar has dismissed allegations against former Harris County prosecutor Dan Rizzo of a cover-up that landed Alfred Dewayne Brown on death row. It has been four years since we wrote about the reversal of Brown’s conviction and death sentence, and in that...
MI: Court to Prosecutors: Crooked Cops are Your Problem, Too
A federal district court in Michigan recently made clear that when it comes to the credibility of testifying police officers, prosecutors have a constitutional responsibility to locate and disclose information that may assist the defense in impeaching them. This, of...
Update: SCOTUS Orders Consideration of Justin Wolfe’s “Vindictive Prosecution” Claims
Gather round the campfire, children, for one of the scariest prosecutorial misconduct stories in the land. Thanks to a remand from the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday, this terrifying tale may yet have a just ending. We hope so. We’ve written several times before about...
Moving Past the Kill Thrills: Great Podcasts Show Our Broken Criminal Justice System
There’s no denying the ascendance of podcasts in media has been closely related to the immense popularity of the true crime genre. Listeners cultishly swooned over Serial’s first season in a way they just never did for host Sarah Koenig’s many years of work on This...