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Prosecutorial Discretion Case Study

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Prosecutors have the very important job of representing the people in a court of law on both state and federal levels. Prosecutors are under obligation to execute the law on both federal and state levels. However, the discretion that they are afforded under United States law gives them nearly absolute and unreviewable powers to choose whether or not to bring forth criminal charges, and also what charges to bring for cases when the evidence is enough to those justify charges. Plea bargaining is another area in which falls under a prosecutor’s vast discretionary powers, they can choose to bring full charges against the defendant or they can choose to show leniency by reducing the charges or dismissing the charges altogether. The incredible amount of discretion that prosecutors have in the criminal justice system places them …show more content…

Prosecutorial misconduct is defined as “The act of breaking the law, court rules, or code of ethics of law practice, while working as a prosecuting attorney” (Legal Dictionary, n.d.). In the case of Brady v. Maryland (1963), Brady was convicted on a murder charged and sentenced to death after the prosecution withheld a statement by Boblit who confessed to the homicide (Justia (2017), Brady v. Maryland). The court in this case held that suppression of this statement by the prosecution was unconstitutional, Supreme Court affirmed stating that due process required the prosecution, when requested, to turn over evidence that would relate to the guilt or innocence of the defense, even if the evidence was in favor of the defense (Justia (2017), Brady v. Maryland). Withholding exculpatory evidence, which has become known as “Brady material” after Brady v. Maryland decision, is just one type of prosecutorial misconduct. Others include, improper argument, improper use of the media, introducing false evidence, discriminating when picking a

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431 Words | 2 Pages

Case Brief Case title: Santobello V. New York, 404 U.S 257 (1971) Facts: Santobello was indicted with two felonies and plead guilty to a lesser offense after negotiating with the prosecutor. The offense that he did plead guilty had a maximum sentence to only a year in jail, which was less than the original two felonies, and the prosecutor at the time said he wouldn’t recommend anything to the judge. However, a different prosecutor took over the case and did end up recommending the maximum sentence. The defendant’s, Santobello’s, attorney objected and told the judge of the deal that the former prosecutor made a deal to not recommend sentencing, but the judge said that no one influenced him and that the he believed the maximum one year sentence was appropriate based on Santobello’s criminal record.

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993 Words | 4 Pages

Case Summary Part 1 The prosecution is legally bound to disclose to the defense evidence that is favorable to the defendant. Three examples of the prosecutor’s obligations to disclose evidence are Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), and United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97 (1976). According to Rule 3.8, “the prosecutor must make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense, and, in connection with sentencing, disclose to the defense and to the tribunal all unprivileged mitigating information known to the prosecutor, except when the prosecutor is relieved of this responsibility by

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363 Words | 2 Pages

Prosecutorial misconduct (Westlaw Research Skills Three). iii. Legal issue: Is the prosecutor able to use improper comments that can sway the court against the person on trial? (Westlaw Research Skills Three). iv.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

Nifong and the Duke Lacrosse case highlight several key institutional failures of the justice system in regards to prosecutorial discretion, prosecutor accountability, and the prosecutors dilemma. Prosecutors are considered by many to be the most powerful actors in the courtroom proceedings as they follow the case from the time of arrest to the sentencing. Prosecutors have a lot of discretion in the justice process as they are the ones who decide: Do I prosecute? Who do I prosecute?

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

Prosecutors have the power to send offenders away which allows them to make harsh decisions. They offer plea bargains to offenders which often will enable them to do time in prison. Pfaff stated that "as long as prosecutors simply use the tough laws as a bargaining chip, not real punishment, legislators can reap the political benefits of looking tough on crime while avoiding difficult financial decisions" (Pfaff, 2017, P136). Prosecutors offer a plea bargain to get rid of cases quickly and not allow offenders to go to trial because they might receive more prison

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652 Words | 3 Pages

Both sides will carefully weigh the strength of their case and decide whether it is prudent to go to trial. The prosecution may also consider the publicity surrounding the case and whether there is public pressure to prosecute that particular defendant to the full extent of the law. The defense will consider the individual defendant’s desire to go to trial and the seriousness of the potential sentence. The Pros of Plea Bargaining

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978 Words | 4 Pages

A defense lawyer who has a heavy workload may persuade the criminal defendant to take the plea, which gives up an important constitutional right, a right to trial, in order to close many cases that he or she may be currently handling as swiftly as possible. Plea bargaining can also stir up ethical issues since criminal defendants can get off too easily with deductions in sentencing. Once a bargain for a reduced sentence is given, the victim may not be too fond of this adjustment from the original charge. The victim and their family could feel as if the justice system failed them, especially if the criminal defendant did not receive the punishment that they

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601 Words | 3 Pages

In the United States court system, many criminal cases are not resolved in a timely manner. One of the more common ways in which many cases are resolved quickly is through plea bargaining. Plea bargaining is defined as an agreement between defense attorneys and prosecutors. (Spohn & Hemmens, 2012) Alschuler (1979) describes plea bargaining as the self-conviction act of a defendant. Today, approximately ninety percent of defendants plead guilty because of plea bargaining.

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390 Words | 2 Pages

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

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186 Words | 1 Pages

When the jury trial process is replaced with plea negotiations, we lose trust and reliability in the system. When we give efficiency that the plea bargain has provided power, it comes at a substantial cost. People who are indeed innocent of the crimes they were convicted have now been influenced into pleading guilty for the sake of efficiency. Not to mention the collateral consequences that accompany a person when they plead out. It also undermines the reliability of convictions in general (Gilchrist, 2011).

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Discretion is necessary because it helps officer with their own opinions and being fair/unfair to certain situations. For example there are two cars and the street light is about to change. One car decided to run the yellow light he or she had enough time to get across but for the other car he or she did not have enough time to get across but still decided to run that red light guess who got the ticket the person who went through the yellow light. Another example is when a person is driving over the speeding limit and having the phone to his or her ear. The officer can pull the driver over and give the driver two tickets one for speeding and one for having the phone to the ear.

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311 Words | 2 Pages

A “Plea bargain” is an agreement between the prosecutor, the defendant’s attorney and the defendant. In return for the defendant entering a plea of guilty to a criminal charge, the prosecutor agrees to recommend to the judge a particular penalty. Plea bargaining allows the prosecutor to obtain guilty pleas in cases that might otherwise go to trial. The prosecution is relieved of the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt at trial and the defendant receives a specific resolution of the charges against him.

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187 Words | 1 Pages

The prosecutors are responsible in deciding which cases to prosecute, plea bargaining with defendant, burden of proof that the accused is responsible in the commission of a crime and may assist in sentencing and bail recommendations. The defense attorney is responsible for

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251 Words | 2 Pages

A prosecutor may elect not to charge someone of a crime at their discretion. One of the most frequent reasons to not prosecute a case is if the prosecutor feels that there is not sufficient evidence for a guilty verdict (Bohm & Haley, 2011). I believe that one of the issues that comes up from time to time with a single person having so much power in their decisions is that

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473 Words | 2 Pages

A prosecutor are lawyers that plays an important role in the criminal justice system (Neubauer, D.W., & Fradella, H.F. 2014). In which a person is represented against a person or persons that is charged with violating a crime within the laws of the United States. When an offender committed a first offense majority of the time that offender might receive probation as their punishment. In which the offender might do supervised community service or weekly reports for the return for a suspended sentencing. The prosecutor involvement comes in when the offender decides to revoke their probation agreement this can possibly result in going back to prison to finish off their original sentence.

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