The duty of any criminal prosecutor is to seek justice. A conviction is the end of justice being served prior to sentencing; however justice cannot be served if an innocent person is found guilty. Even though the prosecutor(s) are there to represent the public and has the duty to aggressively pursue offenders for violations of state and federal laws, they shall never lose sight or their own moral compass of their main purpose is to find the truth. In the pursuit of truth, the United States Supreme Court has developed or made rulings in reference to several principles of conduct which have to be followed by all prosecutors to assure that the accused person(s) are allowed the proper procedures and due process of the law granted by the 14th Amendment. In the 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland, the United States Supreme Court ruled that any government state or federal has the duty to disclose to a defendant and his counsel any exculpatory information or evidence in its possession. If the …show more content…
What Brady v. Maryland inspires is a duty upon prosecutors to search all the government files for “Brady” material. If it the any material consistent with the “Brady” ruling exists, it must be voluntarily disclosed by government counsel. However the issue that both prosecutors and defense lawyers have in reference to Brady v. Maryland ruling is it difficult for a prosecutor to decided whether certain evidence is exculpatory to a defendant. Unless a prosecutor can predict with a magic eight ball and wand exactly what a defendant’s defense will be during trial, they may not recognize an exculpatory significance of paperwork or evidence that the government is in possession