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In September 2010, USA Today published the first of several articles about prosecutorial misconduct. In that article they discussed Nino Lyons who was convicted in a case where the prosecutors:
covered up evidence that could have discredited many of Lyons’ accusers. They never revealed that a convict who claimed to have purchased hundreds of pounds of cocaine from Lyons struggled even to identify his photograph. And they hid the fact that prosecutors had promised to let others out of prison early in exchange for their cooperation.
As we’ve discussed both types of information must be disclosed.
USA TODAY found a pattern of “serious, glaring misconduct,” said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, an expert on misconduct by prosecutors. “It’s systemic now, and … the system is not able to control this type of behavior. There is no accountability.”
Sentencing Law & Policy notes that USA Today has published again on this topic regarding holding (or the lack of) holding errant prosecutors accountable. Here is a link to USA Today with a list of the items. Of interest is the discussion of 201 identified instances of misconduct.
Here is a link to information about the Hyde Amendment. It doesn’t apply to courts-martial.