Judge Finds Prosecutors Failed to Turn Over Potentially Exculpatory Evidence
The judge presiding over actor Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter case abruptly dismissed the case mid-trial after it was revealed that prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence the defense could have used at trial. The case stems from an accidental shooting that happened on set of the movie “Rust” when Mr. Baldwin allegedly discharged a firearm on set that contained what he believed to be blanks, but in fact contained a live round that killed a cinematographer in 2021. During testimony at trial of a crime scene technician, it was revealed that prosecutors did not disclose that a box of ammunition was brought to the attention of law enforcement purportedly connected to the case, but the prosecution deemed the ammunition unrelated and failed to disclose the ammunition’s existence to Mr. Baldwin’s legal defense team. “The late discovery of this evidence during trial has impeded the effective use of evidence in such a way that it has impacted the fundamental fairness of the proceedings,” Judge Marlowe Sommer said. Under long settled United States law, prosecutors are obliged to turn over all evidence that may be favorable to a defendant’s case. Any failure to do so is known as a “Brady violation” referring to the seminal case of Brady v. Maryland decided by the Supreme Court, which found that withholding of potentially exculpatory evidence by prosecutors violates the fundamental right of a fair trial and can result in the dismissal of a case or a reversal of a conviction if proven even after a guilty verdict.
Brady Violations in the Judicial System
Although some may be surprised to learn that this type of injustice regularly occurs, the unfortunate reality is that it is not uncommon for prosecutors to withhold information they deem not “material” to a defendant. In fact, a group of legal scholars recently published a paper and built a database reviewing over 800 instances of Brady claims at the state and federal level over the previous 5 years and found Brady violations in 10 percent of cases where the claims were litigated. Perhaps more shockingly, the study revealed that, “Prosecutors, not police, were responsible for most violations and they were almost never referred to the Bar for discipline” and that, “While federal prosecutors are supposed to be elite highly trained lawyers, they were responsible for a disproportionate share of Brady violations.” In many instances, the violations are not discovered until after trial, with the average petitioner having to wait roughly ten years before courts find they have occurred and grant relief to the defendant. It is important for anyone accused of a crime to hire the best and most experienced attorney they can afford who is able to thoroughly investigate their case and appropriately request additional evidence that the prosecution may have withheld from initial disclosures and who will fight to ensure their client’s right to a fair trial.