This is big news. The state bar discipline process, led by recently-appointed Chief Trial Counsel Jim Towery, is investigating 130 prosecutors who had been identified in a report by the Innocence Project and Santa Clara University law professors on instances of wrongful conviction. (Here's the report's executive summary. Here's the ABA Journal's short news article.)
I expect we'll hear a lot more news about this, that the prosecutors will fight back, that the prosecutors will feel that old matters that were argued years ago shouldn't be the basis of discipline charges, and so on. But this move by the bar seems quite deliberate and planned out, and I expect they've thought through a lot of the issues. We'll see. I'd also expect that at some point more prosecutor offices will adopt "open file" policies simply out of self-protection.
(You may recall that following a San Jose Mercury News investigative series, the state bar successfully went after Santa Clara County prosecutor Ben Field. At the time, many of us wondered what impact it might have. The investigation of 130 is no doubt sending shock waves through prosecutor offices up and down this state.)
UPDATE: Welcome, readers from Overlawyered. It's my understanding that the State Bar is focusing only on cases where the prosecutorial misconduct was not deemed "harmless," and it's my further understanding that the State Bar is taking into account the prosecutors' record and reputation, so that no isolated act is taken out of the context of the prosecutor's career.
As editor, I decided to delete two comments because, in my view, the first one was confusing and the second one was solely responding to the confusing nature of the first one.
Posted by: John Steele | November 08, 2010 at 07:01 AM
It's not just the prosecutors.
My experience is limited, but I was in court when a california judge threatened "contempt" charges for a man who told the truth under oath. And no, it was not offensive in any way.
Posted by: David Smith | November 08, 2010 at 11:58 PM
Attorneys are officers of the court and must be held to a minimum standard of telling the truth. When caught, they must be punished. The Goldman Law firm was caught. They lied to a civil court judge about excessive travel expenses. Normally this could have been just a mistake but considering all the lies in this case it obviously is another attempt of perjury, harassment and now EXTORTION. This just furthers the conspiracy of Radiology Medical Group against a patient they assaulted and permanently injured during an illegal MRI contrast injection.
The previous attorney, Barry C. Marsh of the law firm of HINSHAW, DRAA, MARSH, STILL & HINSHAW OF SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA was caught presenting altered documents to witnesses and in court. Marsh is also involved in a conspiracy to cover up an illegal injection causing a debilitating injury. Now the Goldman Law firm is involved in perjury as well. Federal law defines perjury as a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to five years. Their activity in this conspiracy should qualify them for the maximum sentence allowed. They should know better!
To read more about the illegal activities, please visit the website w w w . l i a r l i a r l i a r . c o m or w w w . r a d i o l o g y o f s a n t a c r u z . c o m .
Posted by: RadiologyOfSantaCruz | April 24, 2011 at 05:13 AM