Constitutional Law Due Process - Prosecutors Must Disclose Exculpatory Information When the Net Effect of the Suppressed Evidence Makes It Reasonably Probable That Disclosure Would Have Produced a Different Result (Kyles v. Whitley, 115 S.Ct. 1555 (1995))

• NCJ Number: 162996
• Journal: Seton Hall Law Review Volume: 26 Issue: 2 Dated: (1996) Pages: 832-865
• Author(s): C L Corcoran
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 34 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This Note examines prosecutors' responsibility to execute their position in compliance with the standards of due process.

Abstract

Due Process Clauses are incorporated in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. With respect to the criminal justice system, due process mandates that the procedures used to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant comply with notions of justice and fair play. Suppression of evidence by a prosecutor undermines the credibility of the verdict because it denies the fact finder access to all of the evidence needed to make an accurate and fair determination. The Note discusses circumstances that mandate disclosure, what constitutes prejudicial errors by the prosecution, the harmless error standard, other applicable standards of law, and several United States Supreme Court decisions (and dissents thereto) regarding the prosecution's obligations under Due Process. Implementation of a standard established by one such decision may actually endanger society. It imposes a higher burden on the accused, making it more difficult to actually get a conviction reversed, conceivably resulting in upholding the convictions of innocent people. Footnotes