New Study Reveals Misconduct By 
Prosecutors In Over 2,000 Cases

The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit nonpartisan ethics group, published the results of their three-year study into prosecutorial misconduct. The study was directed by Steve Weinberg, a University of Missouri journalism professor. 

The study, titled “Harmless Error,” found that in more than 2,000 cases since 1970, appellate judged dismissed criminal charges, reversed convictions, or reduced sentences due to misconduct by the prosecutor. The study analyzed 11,452 cases in which charges of prosecutorial misconduct were reviewed by appellate court judges. 

Twenty-eight of these cases involved defendants later found to be innocent. Some of those found innocent had been sentenced to death before they were exonerated.

The prosecutorial misconduct ranged from: failure to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense before trial; calling the jury’s attention to the defendant’s failure to testify, thereby compromising the Fifth Amendment rights of the accused; using inadmissible material from a separate trial of an accomplice; promising during jury selection or opening argument to present testimony never offered; attacking the truthfulness of defense counsel; and inflaming jurors’ passions during closing argument.

The Center’s study of criminal appeals from 1970 to the present revealed 441 Ohio cases in which the defendant alleged prosecutorial error or misconduct. In 71, judges ruled a prosecutor’s conduct prejudiced the defendant and reversed or remanded the conviction, sentence or indictment. In 16, a dissenting judge or judges thought the prosecutor’s conduct warranted reversing or remanding the defendant’s conviction, sentence or indictment. Out of all the defendants who alleged misconduct, two later proved their innocence. 

The study can be found at: The Center for Public Integrity