PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "At least 1,721 people have been exonerated after prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, according to data from the National Registry of Exonerations, and this figure likely barely scratches the surface of Brady violations nationwide. When the wrong person is put behind bars, it not only causes damage to those who are wrongfully convicted, the victims and their families, but it also endangers the safety of the entire community by allowing the real perpetrator to go free and by eroding trust in our criminal legal system."
GUEST COMMENTARY: "Adnan Syed case: Maryland Supreme Court must allow unconstitutional convictions to be overturned," by Leigh Goodmark and Miriam Aroni Krinsky, published by The Baltimore Sun, on November 26, 2023. (Miriam Aroni Krinsky (mkrinsky@fairandjustprosecution.org) is the executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, a former federal prosecutor, and the author of “Change from Within: Reimagining the 21st Century Prosecutor.” Leigh Goodmark (lgoodmark@law.umaryland.edu) is the Marjorie Cook Professor of Law and director of the Clinical Law Program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and the author of “Imperfect Victims: Criminalized Survivors and the Promise of Abolition Feminism.”
PASSAGE OF THE DAY:
GIST: "A little over a year ago, Adnan Syed walked out of prison — 22 years after he was sentenced to life for the murder of his former girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, and eight years after the podcast “Serial” drew international attention to problems with his conviction.
The argument that finally secured his release came from a surprising source: the prosecutor’s office that originally tried and convicted him.
But his future is now uncertain.
In October, the Maryland Supreme Court heard arguments that could lead to its ruling, any day now, to reinstate his conviction — not because of new evidence, but because of a procedural notification issue with his release.
The outcome could have far-reaching implications for efforts to overturn unconstitutional and wrongful convictions across Maryland and the nation.
In 2021, when the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office was asked to take a second look at Syed’s case, a nearly yearlong review uncovered that his 2000 conviction was based on recanted and inconsistent testimony from multiple witnesses and, most shockingly, that investigators had initially considered two alternative suspects, according to evidence found in the files.
Yet this information was never turned over to the defense, violating Syed’s constitutional right to see any evidence that might prove his innocence.
So, the prosecutor’s office did what it was legally and ethically bound to do: It showed Syed’s legal team the previously undisclosed evidence, filed a motion to vacate his conviction, and reopened the investigation into Ms. Lee’s murder.
But in March, an appellate court reinstated Syed’s conviction, not based on his guilt or innocence, but on a procedural issue, ruling that the lower court violated the rights of Ms. Lee’s brother, Young Lee, by not giving him sufficient notice to attend the vacatur hearing in person.
Mr. Lee — and all victims — have important rights in the criminal process, but preserving a wrongful conviction, even temporarily, benefits no one.
Wrongful convictions are extraordinarily harmful, not just to the wrongfully convicted, but to crime victims as well as society as a whole.
At the heart of Syed’s constitutional challenge to his conviction lies the fundamental “Brady” right for people accused of crimes.
This legal cornerstone, established by the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, says that criminal defendants must be informed by the prosecution not only of all evidence that could help convict them, but also of all exculpatory evidence that could help exonerate them.
In Brady, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that prosecutors, who work alongside police investigators, possess evidence that defendants could never access on their own.
If the state were allowed to conceal exculpatory evidence, it could tilt the scales so significantly that many defendants would effectively be robbed of their right to mount a defense.
Unfortunately, violations of Brady rights remain common throughout the criminal legal system.
At least 1,721 people have been exonerated after prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence, according to data from the National Registry of Exonerations, and this figure likely barely scratches the surface of Brady violations nationwide.
When the wrong person is put behind bars, it not only causes damage to those who are wrongfully convicted, the victims and their families, but it also endangers the safety of the entire community by allowing the real perpetrator to go free and by eroding trust in our criminal legal system.
That’s why, over the past two decades, a growing number of elected prosecutors have launched Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs) to reexamine past cases where the outcomes have been called into question.
As ministers of justice, prosecutors are obligated to act when faced with a wrongful conviction, and they are often in the best position to reexamine the case and determine the most just course of action.
This crucial and important work of righting past wrongs would be significantly endangered if courts are permitted to reinstate unconstitutional convictions because of procedural issues that do not affect the outcome of the case.
Hae Min Lee and her family have already been failed by the system when the prosecutors failed to hand over exculpatory evidence; they not only violated Adnan Syed’s rights but also failed to meet their obligation to the Lee family.
Justice for Hae Min Lee is not achieved by maintaining a wrongful conviction.
The state must be permitted to recognize its errors, try to undo the damage, and follow the evidence in this case wherever it leads. The Supreme Court of Maryland must ensure that this work — and the ability of prosecutors to overturn other wrongful convictions — continues.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices.
Lawyer Radha Natarajan;
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014
