Finding a Happy and Ethical Medium between a Prosecutor Who Believes the Defendant Didn't Do it and the Boss that Says that He Did
Issue Date
2008Author
Wilson, Melanie D.
Publisher
Northwestern University School of Law
Type
Article
Version
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1463998
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In June of 2008, The New York Times reported on a New York prosecutor’s conflict with his supervisors. The disagreement rested on the prosecutor’s belief that the District Attorney’s Office had wrongly convicted two men of a 1990 shooting. After thoroughly re-investigating the case, the prosecutor made a powerful pitch to his bosses that the men’s convictions “be dropped.” The supervisors disagreed and instructed the prosecutor to proceed with a hearing to oppose setting aside the convictions. The prosecutor complied with the directive but then “deliberately helped the other side win.”
This short thought piece proposes an ethical course of action for front-line prosecutors who disagree with their bosses about the “just” way to handle an issue or case.
Description
Full-text available at SSRN. See link in this record.
Collections
Citation
Melanie D. Wilson, Finding a Happy and Ethical Medium between a Prosecutor Who Believes the Defendant Didn't Do it and the Boss that Says that He Did, 103 Nw. U. L. REV. COLLOQUY 65 (2008).
Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.
We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.