7/31/2019 Wednesday Watch on Injustice, Edition 64 (08!15!2012)

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WednesdayWatchOn InjustIceBill BastukPresident ICH/Y

Dannielle HilleCommunications Coordinator

Jeffrey DeskovicEditor

YOUYOUITCOULD HAPPENTOYOU!

Prominent Criminal Justice Attorney Addresses DA Failure to Complywith Rules Governing Disclosure of Evidence

A July 30, 2012 article in the New York Law Journal by Joel Stashenko highlights an article by the New YorkBar Association Criminal Justice Sector Chair Marvin Schecter that warns of district attorneys consistent

violation of the US Supreme Court Brady rule governing disclosure of evidence by the prosecutor to the defenseattorney representing the accused.

Manhattan defense attorney Marvin Schechter, in a "Message From the Chair" in the summer quarterly

newsletter of the state bar's Criminal Justice Section, contends that "From its inception, case history shows that

Brady [v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83] has been continually violated, thus undermining the popular, though quaintnotion of fair play based on the prosecutor's dual obligation to the public as well as the accused, to be fair andhonest in the presentation of evidence and in reviewing material which is favorable to the defendant."

Schechter writes that "the slow trickle of uncovered Brady violations spawned by DNA exonerations hasbecome a steady, flowing stream of egregious cases."

And he observes that "assistant district attorneys do not emerge from law school with a genetic disposition to

hidingBrady material. Instead this is something that is learned and taught."

That allegation drew an immediate response from the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York

(DAASNY).

"DAASNY condemns these sentiments in the strongest possible terms," the group said in a letter to state barpresident Seymour James. "We ask the [state bar] to clarify that it is not the official position of our statewide

bar association that district attorneys are teaching their assistants to violate the constitution."

The July 25 letter was signed by the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., DAASNY's president, andWestchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore, its immediate past president.

"Our colleagues in DAASNY believe that criminal defense is an honorable profession," states the letter from thedistrict attorneys. "We trust there is similar respect and support from our bar leaders for the thousands of public

prosecutors throughout New York state."

James responded in a July 26 letter that Schechter's column "was clearly an expression of the author's ownpersonal opinion."

"It was not offered and cannot reasonably be interpreted as an expression of the opinion of the State Bar

Association," wrote James, who is attorney-in-charge of criminal practice for the Legal Aid Society of NewYork City.

To read the full articleD.A.s Challenge Claim by Bar Section Head They Undermine 'Brady', published in theNew York Law Journal on July 30, 2012, clickHERE

15 August 2012vol. 2/No 64

http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202564723093&DAs_Challenge_Claim_by_Bar_Section_Head_They_Undermine_Brady&slreturn=20120628085515http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202564723093&DAs_Challenge_Claim_by_Bar_Section_Head_They_Undermine_Brady&slreturn=20120628085515http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202564723093&DAs_Challenge_Claim_by_Bar_Section_Head_They_Undermine_Brady&slreturn=20120628085515

7/31/2019 Wednesday Watch on Injustice, Edition 64 (08!15!2012)

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