Unregistered
11-01-2019, 05:10 PM
For shame Kathy Rundle. Your office's policy on police officers who lie darkens the reputation and memory of Janet Reno and a prosecutors' office once known throughout the country for its integrity.
We are speaking about this Power Point slide deck training prosecutors about how to deal with police officers who lie.
Let us step back for a moment and consider the topic. Police Officers who have demonstrably lied in official proceedings and prosecutions of defendants who could lose their liberty.
There is nothing more powerful than a prosecutor arguing to a judge that a police officer has no reason to lie and therefore their testimony should be accepted. And the argument is compelling, except it is patently false because our criminal justice system is littered with innocent defendants convicted on the false testimony of police officers.
Prosecutors have one of two roads to travel when confronted with a whiff of a police officer lying.
Road one is the road that the Dade State Attorneys Office has unfortunately chosen to travel which is to apply a microscopic hair-splitting legal analysis and avoid turning over what is clearly Brady material (judges who do not understand this concept are free to email us for a more detailed explanation of Brady) unless it is absolutely necessary.
The second road, call it the "Reno-Road" is to "do the right thing" and turn over anything that relates to a defendant being innocent and a police officer lying.
USA Today concluded this in an article about lying police officers, Brady, and the Dade SAO:
In Miami-Dade County, internal training presentations obtained by USA TODAY show prosecutors being taught legal tactics to avoid disclosing officers’ histories.
The documents say prosecutors don’t have to go out of their way to disclose, and the burden of proving they covered up a questionable officer’s history is on the defense.
Let's repeat that slowly- The Dade County State Attorneys Office trains its prosecutors not to "go out of their way" to do justice. They want to win, and if winning means not disclosing information about a police officer lying, then so be it unless all the "T"s are crossed and all the "I"'s are dotted.
The Dade County State Attorneys Office teaches its prosecutors not to "go out of their way" to do justice. This is shocking to its core.
For shame.
Every Judge in the REGJB should be shocked by this. Every judge should tell every prosecutor that until they are shown otherwise, the representatives of the Dade SAO will NOT be believed when they say they have complied with the Brady and Gigglio obligations.
People's lives are at stake. And we have a bunch of bureaucratic yahoos playing legal niceties and games with the law.
No Janet Reno-trained prosecutor would ever tolerate this. None.
For shame.
We are speaking about this Power Point slide deck training prosecutors about how to deal with police officers who lie.
Let us step back for a moment and consider the topic. Police Officers who have demonstrably lied in official proceedings and prosecutions of defendants who could lose their liberty.
There is nothing more powerful than a prosecutor arguing to a judge that a police officer has no reason to lie and therefore their testimony should be accepted. And the argument is compelling, except it is patently false because our criminal justice system is littered with innocent defendants convicted on the false testimony of police officers.
Prosecutors have one of two roads to travel when confronted with a whiff of a police officer lying.
Road one is the road that the Dade State Attorneys Office has unfortunately chosen to travel which is to apply a microscopic hair-splitting legal analysis and avoid turning over what is clearly Brady material (judges who do not understand this concept are free to email us for a more detailed explanation of Brady) unless it is absolutely necessary.
The second road, call it the "Reno-Road" is to "do the right thing" and turn over anything that relates to a defendant being innocent and a police officer lying.
USA Today concluded this in an article about lying police officers, Brady, and the Dade SAO:
In Miami-Dade County, internal training presentations obtained by USA TODAY show prosecutors being taught legal tactics to avoid disclosing officers’ histories.
The documents say prosecutors don’t have to go out of their way to disclose, and the burden of proving they covered up a questionable officer’s history is on the defense.
Let's repeat that slowly- The Dade County State Attorneys Office trains its prosecutors not to "go out of their way" to do justice. They want to win, and if winning means not disclosing information about a police officer lying, then so be it unless all the "T"s are crossed and all the "I"'s are dotted.
The Dade County State Attorneys Office teaches its prosecutors not to "go out of their way" to do justice. This is shocking to its core.
For shame.
Every Judge in the REGJB should be shocked by this. Every judge should tell every prosecutor that until they are shown otherwise, the representatives of the Dade SAO will NOT be believed when they say they have complied with the Brady and Gigglio obligations.
People's lives are at stake. And we have a bunch of bureaucratic yahoos playing legal niceties and games with the law.
No Janet Reno-trained prosecutor would ever tolerate this. None.
For shame.