One of the many frustrations of those involved in wrongful convictions, is the fact that it is almost unheard of to get those professionals who were responsible for the injustice disciplined or punished. Most in fact continue to practice, police, prosecute, or judge. Even those paltry efforts that are made to discipline or punish these individuals are often met with obfuscation and are rarely successful (for the recent attempts to prosecute the police officers responsible for the wrongful conviction of the UK’s Cardiff Three case see earlier post here…). Now in Scotland, a former police inspector has been jailed for five years for witholding and fabricating evidence when investigating a murder in Scotland 17 years ago, the resulted in the wrongful conviction of two men. In sentencing him, the judge said: “You were in a position of trust. The criminal justice system depends upon police officers acting with honesty and integrity.” Read more here… This is welcome news, but sadly, very unusual.
Meanwhile in Australia, the prosecutor in a notorious miscarriage of justice which saw Andrew Mallard convicted of murder and spend 12 years in prison, has been fined AU$10,000 for his involvement in the wrongful conviction. Whilst one may be tempted to think that this is again some good news, along with the finding that his practice fell below the standard expected of legal practitioners, Ken Bates was allowed to step down from the prosecution service in 2009 with a payout of AU$270,000 and without facing disciplinary action. The fine makes hardly a dent in his large payout. Read more here… It is regrettable that criminal charges were not brought, and this was the maximum fine available to the Administrative Tribunal that heard the case.
I firmly believe that we should not accept that in many cases of wrongful convictions, there is not someone, or many people, who acted negligently, their work fell below acceptable standards, or they were simply corrupt and acted criminally. To be taking wrongful convictions seriously, we need to see more of these individuals disciplined and punished. 
Wrongful Convictions Blog 
Thank you for your excellent write , Dr. McCartney .
I personally witnessed a rogue , wrongful conviction several decades ago .
The prosecuting witness , an LEO , was truthful and professional . He had erred (apparently in good faith , relying on substandard advice from supervisors) in filing the charge .
The prosecutor , was also professional at trial and there was no appearance that he did anything illegal .
The problem ?
A rogue judge whose pattern was to rule by fiat , by creating crimes from conduct not proscribed in law , by trumping the legislative branch and re-defining legislation so that innocent conduct was now illegal .
The ONLY solution to the problem was his death , whether by natural causes or violence .
There was no working solution at the time via established lawful protocol to end his misconduct .
His untimely death prior to his 50th birth anniversary solved the problem – permanently .
There is no excuse for the public , the decent lawyers , prosecutors , judges , LEOs
→}and most ARE decent{← , to fail to lawfully hold rogues to answer to the consequences of their misconduct .
History has shown that nature will fill the vacuum of indifference to rogues and their indifference to the rule of law .
It is unfortunate that you were not around to interview Mr. Heydrich before he passed , after Operation Anthropoid .
Those who do not believe in the rule of law have dramatically demonstrated in their misguided ways , that perceived wrongdoers are not immune from violent , ultra vires methods of sanction .
Were all the pins of the cylinders to align , how does one feel that a James Holmes (of Aurora CO notoriety) would handle a rogue prosecutor or LEO who was responsible for imprisoning an innocent sibling/other relative or friend.
Such a person has the knowledge and means for remarkable illegal sanction to the offending party . And based on his past conduct , it would not appear to be beyond belief that his method of sanction could be to ignore the offender , then ship to the offender , dismembered parts of family members in dry ice .
Were ▬►A L L◄▬ the public to insist to their legislative , executive and judicial representatives , that rogue conduct in the administration of criminal law ought not , must not , and shall not be tolerated ; I respectfully submit that wrongful convictions due to rogue conduct would dramatically decrease .
It ought not be necessary to unlawfully assassinate a rogue to sanction her/him and remove him/her from the criminal justice formula .
DJB , Associate Member OACDL*
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
* Typing and posting ONLY for myself and NOT the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers .
Brevard County, Florida is notorious for having convicted innocent men and no one is punished for doing so! Prosecutor is instead promoted to Judge in higher court while his innocent victim spends 28 years or more in prison! these men should be punished the same way the innocent have been!
The rogue officers, prosecutors and judges Maxine Reid writes of are responsible for a great deal of harm in non-crimi Cnal matters, too. Rogues don’t limit their below-board activities to just one aspect of their jobs.
The problem is immunities … every lawbreaker should be treated exactly the same, from beat cops to drug dealers. How many more decades will we wait before we realiee that the Bar has and will continue to let its members get away with murder.
When Wilton Dedge was DNA-exonerated in Brevard in 2004, it proved Gerald Stano’s 1998 execution wrongful, just as a handful of brave Daytona officers testified it would be. The same coached jailhouse informant – Clarence Zacke -had been used against both men, with that false testimony supported by additional false testimony from charlatan dog handler John Preston, who had been completely discredited by an Ohio federal court in December of 1982, resulting in Dale Sutton’s release from prison in January of 1983.
Gary Bennett, Maxine’s son, was convicted using Preston in January of 1984.
One of Bennett’s public defenders – who virtually threw the case – was Norm Wolfinger, whose judgement in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin matter cannot be trusted even momentarily. Not only must Wolfinger’s role in covering up Preston frame-ups/coverups remain foremost in our minds, but Wolfinger’s bizarre behaviors in letting officers remain on the job that – with premediation and without provocation – kicked, tazed and beat dementia-suffering, minority business owner Albert Flowers last Autumn.
Wolfinger needs to be held accountable, and not at the Bar’s leisure, behind cushy closed doors, with their harshest punishment for directly causing a wrongful execution to be permanent disbarment – nothing but a career change.
The Bar’s tax exemption is based on their equally protecting the public and their members … a blatant lie that should have drawn fire from the IRS shortly after the US Supreme Court had the audacity to give prosecutors absolute immunity for misconduct in 1976 (Imber v Pachtman), as harmful as their previous auditicity in Plessvy v Ferguson. Separate but equal didn’t work for facilities, and it sure the hell isn’t working for justice.
Thank you Ms Chandler , for your comment .
Paul Kern IMBLER, Petitioner, v. Richard PACHTMAN, District Attorney.
424 U.S. 409 (96 S.Ct. 984, 47 L.Ed.2d 128)
No. 74-5435.
Argued: Nov. 3, 1975. Decided: March 2, 1976.
◘ POWELL, J., deliered [sic] the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER., C.J., and STEWART, BLACKMUN, and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined.
◘ WHITE, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which BRENNAN and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 424 U. S. 432.
◘ STEVENS, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/424/409/
is an excellent read , especially the WHITE, BRENNAN, MARSHALL concurrence,
◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘ ▬ ◘
Kalina v. Fletcher, 522 U.S. 118 (1997) ( No. 96-792 ) Argued October 7, 1997—Decided December 10, 1997 , 93 F.3d 653, affirmed ;
◘ STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
◘ SCALIA, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which THOMAS, J., joined, post, p. 131.
http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/522/118/
is also an excellent read , especially the concurrence by Justice Scalia , joined by Justice Thomas .
Ohio has a sorry history when it comes to sanctioning rogue prosecutors, but that there has been recent improvement .
Those who haul high explosives or are deeply involved in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) perform their jobs well – or else .
Indifference to their duties is self-correcting and frequently final .
Perhaps a similar sanction could be formulated for rogue prosecutors who intentionally suborn perjury from jail house snitches .
Prosecutors’ duty is to see that justice is done in the courts of their jurisdiction .
UNEXPECTED
Docile Jim Brady – Columbus OH 43209 | July 29, 2012 at 2:31 pm | Reply
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Thank you Ms Chandler , for your comment .
Every person deserves the right in law to receive lawful justice with any failure of the law to recognize and be bound by that right undermining the rights of all. There has to be legitimacy within the law since a failure here in law undermines the legitimacy of the law itself and that is a failure of the law to stand lawfully. All authorities are bound within the law to serve and provide the public with lawful service, no authority nor its representatives has, had or have a lawful right to lie, distort or pervert either justice or the law since that is a failure in them to provide the public with lawful service and that is a crime.
We all have a right to be told the undistorted truth and we all have a right in law to demand lawful service from those we trust with authority. People in positions of public trust should be held accountable with any attempt at evasion being recognized as being an intention to evade – justice has to stand without prejudice, distortion nor perversion or there is no justice and no legitimacy within the law.
I wrote a book on this called the ‘State of Injustice’ that relates to issues and aspects of law, it is free to download upon the paw-lew.com & .co.uk websites (if you can get past my religious perspectives) then the issues themselves have merit.
Justice is a profound thing and every person should become aware of its impact because it isn’t always fair and authority believe they have a right in law to both conceal and evade justice themselves which within itself is a failure in law and of the law to stand lawfully therefore without prejudice.
Christopher