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Out of Control Prosecutors
Posted by: Brent Horst
March 19, 2008
Topic: Defending Child Abuse Cases
After 20 years of being involved in criminal law I sometimes start to believe that I have seen it all. Whenever this happens I am soon reminded that I have not. This week while defending a client charged with multiple counts of sexual battery and rape of a child where the accuser is now 18, there is no evidence other than her accusation, no witnesses, no physical evidence, and she has plenty of motive to make a false allegation, the prosecutor actually stood up in court, in front of the judge, me, and my client and stated she was not going to provide a copy of the accusers statement to the police because it could be used by the Defendant to prepare a defense. I'm not kidding. Apparrantly this prosecutor does not believe in Due Process which provides to a person charged with a crime the absolute right to prepare and present a defense, and would prefer that we just skip the entire trial process so that she can get her conviction, justice and the innocent be damned.
While I have always maintained and continue to believe that most prosecutors are honest hard working persons of good character, the few bad apples that do exist can wield unbelievable power and reek havoc on a persons life, all without any fear of repercussion, as a prosecutor enjoys immunity for any acts he/she commit while acting in the course of their position as a prosecutor. This particular prosecutor is obviously not interested in justice. From her own words she obviously believes that an individual charged with a crime should not be allowed to prepare a defense. In her world if we could simply skip the whole bothersome business of having a trial she would be much happier. She belongs in the Mike Nyfong - Duke Lacrosse case -class of prosecutors. The saddest part of this whole particular situation is that Tennessee Rules of Procedure do not require the prosecutor to turn over the accusers prior statement until after the accuser has testified during trial. This makes it very difficult to review the statement with sufficient time to prepare a defense by looking for inconsistencies, and lies in the prior statement to demonstrate that the accuser is not credible. However, most prosecutors in Tennessee will provide the statement well before trial understanding that if their case cannot survive pretrial scrutiny that maybe the State does not deserve to win because an innocent person's liberty might be in jeopardy. Those prosecutors who refuse like this particular prosecutor did to turn the statement over prior to trial are rarely as bold as this prosecutor and will usually find some lame excuse never admiting in open court that they just do not want the Defendant to be able to prepare a defense.
The reason I right about this incident is to try to sound the alarm that the State cannot always be trusted. Many if not most people have a tendency to automatically believe that the prosecutor wears the white hat, that they are the good guys, and that they would never knowingly or recklessly convict an innocent person. If you still believe this just ask yourself, if you had been charged with a similar crime as my current client but the State refused to even let you look at the accusers statement and you therefore are facing life in prison with no other evidence against you but you are not allowed to even know what the accuser claims that you did would you feel that you were being treated fairly and that justice was being done? Next time you happen to find yourself on a jury don't buy what the government is selling just because they are the government. Remember, sometimes the government cheats.
