COMMENTARY: "Prosecutors need to be accountable for their actions," by Lisa Falkenberg, publikshed by the Houston Chronicle on March 6, 2013.
GIST: "In an ethics training video leaked recently by someone at
the Harris County District Attorney's Office, the trainer, Rob Kepple,
seems genuinely puzzled at one point by the question of why the topic of
prosecutor accountability is such a big deal these days. "I got a theory," Kepple, executive director of the Texas District
and County Attorneys Association, tells a room full of Harris County
prosecutors. "I think it's because we're pretty much done with the DNA
exonerations. … We've tested just about everything we can. Now you've
got a whole big exoneration machine that doesn't have anyone to chew on
anymore." So, he concludes, it only makes sense to go after prosecutors. We -
presumably the media, the public, the lawmakers and the Innocence
Project - need something else to chew on. I take a different view. I think prosecutor accountability is a big
issue because former Williamson County prosecutor Ken Anderson - who
sent Michael Morton to prison for a quarter century for a murder he
didn't commit - is still sitting on a bench, wearing a judge's robe,
hearing cases."
The entire commentary can be found at:
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/falkenberg/article/Prosecutors-need-to-be-accountable-for-their-4331097.php
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I
have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses
several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of
the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this
powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and
myself get more out of the site.
The
Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible
years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr.
Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of
Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"
section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It
can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
