Chapter 11

• Jurisdiction: United States

Chapter 11 Brady

Brady v. Maryland

The milestone U.S. Supreme Court decision of Brady v. Maryland⁵⁵ epitomizes the concept that prosecutors must be dedicated to doing justice. John Leo Brady was convicted of murdering William Brooks and sentenced to death. Boblit had admitted that he alone had killed Brooks. The prosecution failed to disclose Boblit's written statement of admission to Brady. In a separate trial, Boblit was likewise convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote the majority opinion that states:

We now hold that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment.... Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly.⁵⁶

The Supreme Court held that although the undisclosed evidence would not have absolved the defendant, it was material to his sentencing. Therefore, the conviction was not overturned, but the case was remanded for resentencing.

In the wake of the Brady decision, Rule 3.8(d) of the Rules of Professional Conduct was adopted, and it states:

Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor: The prosecutor in a criminal case shall: (d) make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense, and, in connection with sentencing, disclose to the defense and to the tribunal all unprivileged mitigating information known to the prosecutor, except when the prosecutor is relieved of this responsibility by a protective order of the tribunal...

The case against former U.S. Senator Theodore Stevens Sr. from Alaska dramatically illustrates how the Brady Rule operates. Stevens, who served in the Senate from 1968 to 2009, was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2008 on seven felony counts of failing to properly report gifts. A jury found Stevens guilty of all seven counts. In February 2009, FBI agent Chad Joy filed a whistleblower affidavit, alleging that prosecutors had committed Brady violations by withholding exculpatory evidence by redacting statements of a witness and by failing to turn over a memorandum from another witness stating that Stevens probably would have paid for the goods and services if asked. The trial judge held the prosecutors in contempt for...