Essays on Giglio

Part 1: Prosecutor’s Duty to Report

Although the American criminal law is based on the adversarial system where the prosecutor, representing the state, and the defense, representing the accused, engage in openly confrontational activities in order to persuade a neutral decision-maker of the truth of their story; the Supreme Court has held that under some circumstance, and despite the adversarial nature of the relationship, the prosecution must assist the defense in the preparation of their case. The underlying reason for this counter-intuitive element of the adversarial system, is the traditional belief that the substantial power of the state, as expressed through its law enforcement and ...

Although the American criminal law is based on the adversarial system where the prosecutor, representing the state, and the defense, representing the accused, engage in openly confrontational activities in order to persuade a neutral decision-maker of the truth of their story; the Supreme Court has held that under some circumstance, and despite the adversarial nature of the relationship, the prosecution must assist the defense in the preparation of their case. The underlying reason for this counter-intuitive element of the adversarial system, is the traditional belief that the substantial power of the state, as expressed through its law enforcement and ...

Re: Disciplinary Matters

Duty of Disclosure The criminal procedure revolution commenced in the 1960s. During this era, the rights of criminal defendants were afforded greater substantive and procedural protections. A string of Supreme Court cases established affirmative duties of government officials, particularly prosecutors, to disclose information to the defense. Beginning in Brady v. Maryland, the Prosecutor was held to have a duty to the defense to disclose material information that may have serve to negate a defendant’s guilt (Brady v. Maryland, 1963). The underlying implication of Brady is that it requires prosecutors to inform defendants if government officials lied in previous ...