Child Abuse Defense News by David S. Marshall
|
January 15, 2014
|
New developments in law, medicine, and psychology affecting child abuse cases. For additional news and information, visit www.ChildAbuseDefense.pro. Federal Judge Condemns "Epidemic" of Prosecutors Withholding EvidenceThe chief judge of a federal court of appeals has denounced "an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land." The judge, Alex Kozinski, wrote on the subject in his dissent in United States v. Kenneth R. Olsen, Docket Nos. 10-36063 and 10-36064, issued December 10, 2013 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Four other judges of the court joined his dissent. The Brady rule, named for a Supreme Court case decided in 1963, requires prosecutors to disclose to criminal defendants all material exculpatory evidence—evidence that could lead to their acquittal at trial. Arnold Melnikoff was a Washington State Police forensic scientist whose laboratory tests helped convict Olsen of knowingly developing a biological agent for use as a weapon. Unknown to Olsen or his attorney, Melnikoff had been investigated by the state patrol and found to have done sloppy and incompetent lab work in many cases. The first episode that came to light was Melnikoff's faulty hair sample analysis that resulted in the wrongful conviction of a man for raping an 8-year-old girl; the man was exonerated by DNA analysis only after 15 years in prison. For the rest of this article, please click here. |
Child Abuse Defense News is a publication of www.ChildAbuseDefense.pro.
For additional information, contact David S. Marshall by phone at (206) 826-1400 or email at dmarshall@DavidSMarshall.com.
Know of someone who may be interested in receiving this newsletter? If so, feel free to pass
it along!
For additional information on removing yourself from this list or updating your email
address, call (206) 920-3280 or send an email to jscameron@legalwerks.com.
Copyright 2014 David S. Marshall
|
|
||||||||
No comments:
Post a Comment