STUDY FINDS COURTS GIVE PROSECUTORS LEEWAY ON DISCLOSING EVIDENCE

MORE THAN 50 YEARS AGO; the U.S. Supreme Court said prosecutors, who have much more access to crime-scene evidence than defense lawyers, must turn over any information they find that might help the defendant. But when they fail to turn over favorable evidence, courts these days seldom do anything about it, according to a new study co-authored by a Santa Clara University law professor. The nationwide study examined 210 cases over a five-year period in which prosecutors had withheld evidence that defense lawyers -- when they later learned about it -- claimed they could have used to get an acquittal or a lesser sentence. In 188 of those cases — nearly 90 percent — federal courts ruled that the evidence, while potentially favorable to the defendant, wasn’t important enough to have made a difference, the report said. 

> go to: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Study-finds-courts-give-prosecutors-leeway-on-5926266.php > By Bob Egelko Published 4:18 pm, Sunday, November 30, 2014 

EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW? It is not possible to attain justice if prosecutors essentially working above the law are allowed to ignore exculpatory evidence that could exonerate suspected individuals. This is an obstruction of justice. Prosecutors need to be held legally accountable (and/or aggressively federally prosecuted and/or incarcerated) for leaving out key pieces of evidence that could be seen as favorable to defendants. This is just part of the reason why at least some people consider government to be conspiratorial at times; because one bad prosecutor can bring about a world of injustice.

> SEE ALSO: ALL RELEVANT EVIDENCE IS ADMISSIBLE @

http://addendumblog1.blogspot.com/2014/02/surveillance-footage-all-relevant.html + VARIOUS QUESTIONABLE COVER UPS BY THE CITY OF SUNNYVALE AND/OR THE CITY OF SANTA CLARA AND/OR THE SUNNYVALE AND/OR SANTA CLARA POLICE DEPARTMENTS ETC @ http://addendumblog1.blogspot.com/2014/07/various-criminal-andor-illegal-cover.html + EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW? @ http://addendumblog1.blogspot.com/2013/03/equal-justice-under-law.html + EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW? Pt II @ http://addendumblog1.blogspot.com/2013/07/reverse-discrimination.html + INSTITUTIONALIZED GENDER DISCRIMINATION @ http://addendumblog1.blogspot.com/2013/07/institutionalized-gender-discrimination.html