Cops Convictions in Danziger Bridge (Katrina, New Orleans) murders overturned

Months ago this blog covered the Danziger Bridge murders (shortly after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  5 officers were convicted but their convictions were overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct. (The link also has good background on the cases.) Looks like the cops aren't the only ones who aren't playing by the rules.  Both police and prosecutorial misconduct are rampant in this country.  However , the problems never seem to get fixed.  Why do you think this is?

Another example of prosecutorial misconduct

Prosecutorial misconduct is involved in many convictions of innocent people.  Of course it also happens in the cases of persons who are probably guilty.    However, it too rarely comes to light.  Here, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit calls out the local U.S. Attorney's office.  " The opinion goes on to discuss the dangers to the credibility of the court system when the government bets that its repeated discovery violations will either not be discovered, or as here, not result in a reversal."

Time to get serious about prosecutorial misconduct

Prosecutor misconduct is rampant in the CJ system and is an important factor in many innocent people being convicted. As this article suggests, we need to get serious about meaningful sanctions against such prosecutors. The prosecutor's job is not to get convictions, but to see that justice is done. Often, justice is a conviction, but too often we have convictions without justice. This trend is long overdue. The U.S. Supreme Court has given prosecutors too much leeway in terms of federal civil rights liability.