May 10, 2013<\/p>\n
(In keeping with theme of President Upchurch’s article, a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney, an innocent man’s life hangs in the balance: WKRG-Mobile<\/a> http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cEVURKsGoMI)<\/p>\n A Response to Mobile Bar Association President Michael UpChurch\u2019s Observations <\/strong><\/p>\n I read with interest Mobile Bar Association President Michael E. Upchurch\u2019s \u201cPresident\u2019s Comments\u201d in the May 2013th<\/sup> edition of the Mobile Bar Association\u2019s newsletter.\u00a0 His comments were about a comparison of the life of a civil attorney to the lives of criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors.\u00a0 He goes into detail about how civil attorneys don\u2019t have the stomach to deal with the things prosecutors see and\/or do not have the glamour of criminal defense attorneys.\u00a0 He writes:<\/p>\n “Criminal defense lawyers have big personalities. Civil lawyers seem tame and boring in comparison. Maybe eccentricity is bred out of civil lawyers. There just isn\u2019t any analog in civil practice to a lawyer who advertises with \u201cGet Out of Jail Free\u201d <\/em>cards. Civil lawyers have names like Rupert and Pierpont. The criminal bar has \u201cCowboy Bob.\u201d <\/em>Male civil lawyers have conservative haircuts. A criminal defense lawyer can go to court sporting a ponytail. A civil lawyer is considered wild if he wears a bow tie or drives a convertible. A criminal defense lawyer can parachute naked into a backyard barbeque with a bottle of tequila in one hand and a live iguana in the other and no one raises an eyebrow.<\/p>\n Prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers do the work many others do not have the stomach for. They have strong constitutions. A criminal lawyer or prosecutor can attend an autopsy after eating fried pickles, two burritos, and a piece of pie and fall asleep standing up. Some civil lawyers get queasy looking at photographs of a swollen eye and a neck brace. http:\/\/origin.library.constantcontact.com\/download\/get\/file\/1106306587790-68\/May2013.pdf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is among the opening paragraphs and it is an interesting and intriguing read.<\/p>\n I wonder what it would be like to be a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the opening line of his President\u2019s Comments section.\u00a0 President Upchurch is a civil attorney, as you likely knew. But I, too, a non-lawyer, but an observer of prosecutors, wonder what it is like to be a prosecutor.\u00a0 Prosecutors often develop a \u201cconvict at all cost\u201d mentality.\u00a0 As Upchurch states,<\/p>\n “Prosecutors carry the burden of representing the entire community in all their cases. They are expected to get a conviction in every trial, no matter the evidence or the equities. Prosecutors are criticized even when they win, because they asked for too little punishment, or too much, or sought the death penalty, or did not. They are overworked, underpaid and under-equipped.”http:\/\/origin.library.constantcontact.com\/download\/get\/file\/1106306587790-68\/May2013.pdf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This may be true, in terms of prosecutors being expected to get a conviction in every trial, but does the public expect and want prosecutors to win cases where they know the person is innocent? But the true question is whether life as a prosecutor means that one has to prosecute the innocent if it means, in the mind of a prosecutor, that the victim will receive some justice.\u00a0 If a prosecutor gives a person immunity in return for confessing to what actually occurred, if the prosecutor later discovers that the confession is corroborated and the person (who confessed) is guilty, will the prosecutor dismiss the confession anyway because it doesn\u2019t fit his theory, and pursue an innocent man, or will the prosecutor feel obligated to do what is necessary to seek truth and justice? Is it the mindset of the prosecutor to ignore the guilty to pursue the innocent if it means that a conviction will be easier? What would it be like to work under this type of pressure?\u00a0 What is the moral obligation? Or are moral beliefs and thoughts checked at the door because the convict at all cost mentality prevails? No one believes or should believe the latter as prosecutors are moral beings who want to seek truth and justice, but, in a small number of cases, may convict an innocent person, whether intentional or unintentional, it happens. What incentive would a prosecutor have to ignore the guilty to pursue the innocent? What must it be like to have to make those decisions? Let\u2019s say you were a prosecutor and your heard this confession before trial (http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/the_confession-_testimonial_immunity_agreement). What would you do?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n President Upchurch said that prosecutors are required to share the information they gathered with criminal defense attorneys. He writes:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Civil lawyers bury each other in paper. A civil lawyer gets upset if subpart (d) of interrogatory 87 is not answered fully. A criminal defense lawyer gets diddley in the way of written discovery, and shrugs it off. A prosecutor has to give up her good evidence on request, in every case. A civil defense lawyer would pout for a month if he had to disclose even one street address voluntarily.” http:\/\/origin.library.constantcontact.com\/download\/get\/file\/1106306587790-68\/May2013.pdf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What if in the desire to win, the prosecutor withholds \u201cgood evidence\u201d that disproves a theory and further supports what the person who confessed stated.\u00a0 Would they continue to pursue the innocent because it fits a theory? I wonder if President Upchurch could answer a question for me.\u00a0 If a prosecutor is working on a case and he travels to a prison in another state, let\u2019s say he travels from Mobile, Alabama to a prison in New York, if the prosecutor says he was on vacation when he visited the prison so he did not take any notes, is that ethical, is it legal, is it a dilemma that prosecutors face when they are pursuing a theory? What must it be like to be a prosecutor that in the zest to win and to prove a theory that pursuit of true justice must be thrown out the window. What must that be like? Well, as Upchurch stated, the public expects you to win, so maybe you do not disclose the evidence.\u00a0 Upchurch used the pronoun \u201cshe\u201d throughout his article, possibly to acknowledge Mobile County first female District Attorney, Ashley Rich.\u00a0 She has already shown that the win is very important.\u00a0 Recall that Eucellis Sullivan was asked to leave the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office by District Attorney Ashley Rich. As reported by Local15 News:<\/p>\n “I was terminated from my job as an Asst. D.A.,” she said. Hired by John Tyson, Sullivan had spent last four years prosecuting all types of cases for the office, but LOCAL 15 News was there Thursday as she went back to clean out her desk after she says she was escorted out of the building earlier, just like the criminals she prosecuted.<\/p>\n “I was called into Ashley Rich’s office and they informed me that my services were no longer needed, I was told that a letter of resignation was prepared if I wanted to sign it and I declined signing the letter, I was just shocked because I wasn’t given a reason.”<\/p>\n This is what the District Attorney Ashely Rich told LOCAL 15 News, “Since I took office she has lost\u00a0seven cases and only won two.”\u2026..<\/p>\n \u2026..”The people expect me to put criminals in jail they expect the team I put together to put people in jail she just wasn’t doing that that’s all I have to say,” Rich said. http:\/\/www.local15tv.com\/news\/local\/story\/Ousted-Asst-D-A-Says-Firing-was-Unjust-D-A\/_k_jw7YebUuoBnZ-_2FUAg.cspx<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On a side note, it was interesting to see Atty. Sullivan recently appear as a criminal defense attorney in a case that pitted her against the prosecutor and there was an acquittal and a mistrial. Here are quotes from the criminal defense attorney and the prosecutor in the case in question:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt happens sometimes that a jury cannot reach a verdict,\u201d Patterson said. {Patterson is a long-time Assistant District Attorney in the Mobile County District Attorney\u2019s Office}<\/p>\n Defense attorney Eucellis Sullivan welcomed the verdict. \u201cIt\u2019s great news,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m glad that the jury listened to the evidence and weighed it in their deliberations.\u201d http:\/\/blog.al.com\/live\/2013\/03\/mobile_man_acquitted_of_raping.html<\/p>\n I wonder what it would be like to be a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor<\/strong><\/p>\n Mobile Bar Association President Upchurch asks this question at the beginning of his comments.\u00a0 To be a criminal defense attorney such as Cowboy Bob Clark, mentioned by Upchurch, is to understand that when you have a client that is actually innocent and when you have clients that are actually guilty, prosecutors, at times, treat them both as if they are guilty, innocent until proven guilty does not define what it is like to be a prosecutor.\u00a0 Fair trials can interfere with convictions.\u00a0 So to be a criminal defense attorney is to understand that if a prosecutor wants to convict an innocent man because it fits a theory or because a star witness and\/or the victim of a crime says the defendant is guilty, no matter the evidence that shows that the person is actually innocent, the prosecutor will move to do whatever is necessary to convict.\u00a0 To be a criminal defense attorney is to understand that when you have a client that is guilty as sin, if prosecuting that client disproves a prosecutor\u2019s theory or contradicts what the victim says, that prosecutor will opt not to prosecute your client, meaning that they would rather allow the victim and society to perceive that justice was served rather than actually pursuing justice.\u00a0 To be a criminal defense attorney, you understand this, this is how the dance between criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors works and, on occasion, to be a criminal defense attorney is to strike a chord with prosecutors about it during a trial in the hopes that it will sway a jury.\u00a0 For instance, Mobile Press Register Reporter<\/em> Brendan K. Kirby reported in an article the following:<\/p>\n “MOBILE, Alabama <\/a>\u2013 Closing arguments in Jackeith Harrison<\/a>\u2019s attempted murder and robbery trial got contentious this afternoon, with defense lawyer Robert F. \u201cCowboy Bob\u201d Clark accusing prosecutors of dishonesty.<\/p>\n Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich, voice rising, \u00a0angrily disputed that accusation\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026..\u201cWhy did they deceive you? What benefit is there to them? Do you want to be deceived, or do you want to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt?\u201d he said. \u201cI submit to you they haven\u2019t proven anything beyond a reasonable doubt. She (Rich) hasn\u2019t been fair. She hasn\u2019t been honest.\u201d<\/p>\n Rich told jurors that she took it as a personal attack on her integrity.<\/p>\n “What was going on in that store that night was raw, and it was real, and it was terrifying.” — District Attorney Ashley Rich.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is despicable what he gets up here and says to you,\u201d she said. \u00a0(http:\/\/blog.al.com\/live\/2013\/05\/heated_closing_arguments_accus.html<\/a>)<\/p>\n I wonder what it would be like to be a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor.<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n District Attorney Ashley Rich raised her voice because criminal defense attorney Cowboy Bob Clark questioned her integrity in a courtroom, in front of jurors, during a trial. What is it like to be a criminal defense attorney who knows that a prosecutor had a solid and truthful confession from one\u2019s client, but opts to get that confession suppressed? Why, again, because it does not fit a theory. Right then and there you know that the mind of a prosecutor is to do all that he\/she can to go after the person they want to believe committed the crimes even though you know and they know that they are letting a guilty person (the person who confessed) go.\u00a0 To be a criminal defense attorney is<\/em> to exploit this knowledge and to strike a chord with prosecutors even for clients you know are guilty for a prosecutor left opened the question of his\/her integrity when they protected the truly guilty to go after the innocent.\u00a0 A case in point, this confession made in the office of Bob Clark and in front of the Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Joe Carl \u201cBuzz\u201d Jordan three years before a trial (http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/20100914155256.256155350.pdf ) and please don\u2019t think it stopped at one prosecutor in the Mobile District Attorney\u2019s Office, please view this article (\u00a0 http:\/\/www.bostonreview.net\/BR38.2\/beth_schwartzapfel_valerie_finley_innocent_convictions.php).\u00a0 When a prosecutor refuses to acknowledge that an innocent person has been convicted, how can he\/she not continue to invite questions of integrity?\u00a0 No matter how many awards a prosecutor receives for sending people to death row and no matter how many convictions he\/she may have, to keep an innocent person in prison is extremely tough to overcome, or at least it should be. But what if you are a criminal defense attorney who knows that some prosecutors have no qualms about prosecuting and keeping the innocent in prison? You exploit it in a courtroom.\u00a0 Attorney Upchurch wrote in his \u201cComments\u201d piece:<\/p>\n “There is also an invisible connection between criminal defense lawyers and prosecutors. They eye each other warily across the courtroom, but share an intimate understanding of what innocence and guilt really mean.<\/p>\n Their cases immerse them in an underworld of soul-rattling ugliness and hopelessness. If they buckled under the weight of it, they would end up casualties on the same battlefield. But they don\u2019t buckle. They rise above it. This is their bond.” http:\/\/origin.library.constantcontact.com\/download\/get\/file\/1106306587790-68\/May2013.pdf<\/p>\n In my interpretation this says that criminal defense attorneys are ok with what prosecutors do before a trial as long prosecutors understand what they will do during a trial, even if it means that tactics used to question your integrity in front of a jury may take place from time to time.\u00a0 The criminal justice system is a game of wins and losses, this is the adversarial part of the system, no harm, no foul- oh, except when the innocent gets caught up in the game.<\/p>\n As I included in a letter to former Mobile Bar Association President Henry Calloway in 2011:<\/p>\n “On\u00a0 November 25th<\/sup>, the New York Times Magazine<\/em> published an article entitled \u201cThe Prosecution\u2019s Case Against DNA.\u201d\u00a0 Here is an excerpt from that article:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I wonder what it would be like to be a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor<\/strong><\/p>\n On the differences between criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors, one wants to win at all cost whether the client is guilty or innocent as in the United States of America, every individual has the right to an attorney and when an attorney takes on a client, he or she wants to do what is in the best interest of his\/her client.\u00a0 The other also has a win and all cost mentality that will, at times, lead to the withholding of exculpatory evidence, the suppression of confessions, and will rely on victim eyewitness misidentification to win a case.\u00a0 And while the criminal defense attorney who, once a trial is over, doesn\u2019t deal with a client unless he\/she is handling an appeal, the prosecutor spends 5, 10, 15, 20 and more years to ensure that the conviction is upheld.\u00a0 To be like a prosecutor means to work to uphold the conviction when there is evidence that the person convicted is actually innocent.\u00a0 The public got some understanding of this with the case of Michael Morton of Texas who spent 25 years of his life in prison for crimes he did not commit. Not only did the prosecutor withhold evidence, he (Ken Anderson) and his successor (John Bradley) fought to block Morton\u2019s request to have DNA tested. They went as far as to mock Morton for maintaining his innocence and his request to get evidence proving his innocence tested. After 25 years, Morton got some justice, he was freed, exonerated, compensated, the Texas Bar is suing the prosecutor, the Texas Legislature named a bill after him that deals with the disclosure of evidence by prosecutors and, \u00a0following a Texas Court of Inquiry hearing, a Texas Judge issued the arrest of then prosecutor now judge Ken Anderson (http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/22\/when-texas-gets-it-right-former-prosecutor-held-criminally-responsible-for-putting-innocent-man-in-prison\/). No one should be surprised by what happened in Michael Morton\u2019s and John Thompson\u2019s case for it is the norm, there may be a small number of innocent people convicted, but when it happens, far too many prosecutors will continue to fight to keep the innocent in prison and to ignore calls for needed reforms to help prevent the innocent from languishing in prison.<\/p>\n I wonder what it would be like to be a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor<\/strong><\/p>\n This brings me to my final point, what is it like to be a prosecutor: \u00a0To have the power to get away with anything. Law Professor and author Angela J. Davis responded to a New York Times<\/em> question \u201cDo Prosecutors Have too Much Power.\u201d She wrote:<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in a democracy in which we hold accountable those to whom we grant power, but we have fallen short when it comes to prosecutors. State and local prosecutors are presumably held accountable through the electoral process, but few voters know enough about the prosecution function to make a meaningful decision at the ballot box. When prosecutors run for office, they don\u2019t talk about their charging and plea bargaining policies (if such policies even exist). With a few notable exceptions, most prosecutors run on a \u201ctough on crime\u201d message, providing little, if any, information about anything else. There is even less accountability on the federal level where U.S. attorneys are appointed by the president.<\/p>\n \u2026.Unchecked power in the hands of prosecutors is as much a threat to our democracy as it is with any other government official, if not more. Prosecutorial decisions often result in a loss of liberty and even life. We must do a better job of holding prosecutors accountable \u2014 at the ballot box and through bar counsel prosecutions, when appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n ( http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/roomfordebate\/2012\/08\/19\/do-prosecutors-have-too-much-power\/federal-proscutors-have-way-too-much-power<\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n Imagine having that much power, to be a prosecutor means not having to imagine it, it is a reality.\u00a0 As Mobile Bar Association President Upchurch stated:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “There is an independence to criminal defense lawyers, and a passion and authority in prosecutors, that a civil lawyer might envy. Prosecutors get to carry a badge. They go under the tape at crime scenes. They convene grand juries. All civil lawyers get to do is subpoena medical records.” http:\/\/origin.library.constantcontact.com\/download\/get\/file\/1106306587790-68\/May2013.pdf<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But what happens when prosecutors act in a way that is beyond the authority given to them?<\/p>\n State Bar Associations Must Act Forcefully in Pursuit of Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026.\u00a0 Certainly, there are many district attorneys who abide by the rules and take seriously their duties to seek justice, even when it means losing a case. But there are those who have abused their authority, and they have become emboldened by a weak State Bar that has not acted forcefully enough to address misconduct in the legal profession.\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/www.statesman.com\/news\/news\/opinion\/bar-must-act-forcefully-in-pursuit-of-justice\/nRg9H\/<\/p>\n So we see what Texas, including the Texas State Bar has done to address the abuse of one prosecutor and we see an editorial from a Texas State paper about what Bar Associations need to do.\u00a0 But what happens if there is a case in Alabama, let\u2019s say in Mobile, Alabama where Attorney Upchurch presides over the Mobile Bar Association?\u00a0 Will they respond to calls to at least work towards putting mechanisms in place to prevent the innocence from being incarcerated and to help the innocent already incarcerated obtain their freedom?\u00a0 The Alabama Bar Association and the Mobile Bar Association have not responded to letters I\u2019ve written to them in the past about the case of Rodney K. Stanberry. This is a letter written a couple of years ago, a more updated one is referenced above.\u00a0\u00a0 http:\/\/www.freerodneystanberry.com\/sample_letters_to_rileytyson_alabama_and_mobile_bar_associations<\/a>). These letters have been to inform them about Rodney\u2019s case and to urge them to encourage District Attorney Offices in Alabama to implement Conviction Integrity Units designed to address prior cases where evidence of wrongful convictions exists and to help prevent wrongful convictions.\u00a0 While I have received one response from the American Bar Association essentially directing me to the state bar association, I\u2019ve never received any form of communication from the Alabama and Mobile Bar Associations.\u00a0 The last line of the article from The<\/em> Statesmen<\/em> is very important to sink in for those who truly believe in justice and fairness: \u201cThe Texas legal system certainly needs the State Bar watchdog to bark. But a watchdog that is unwilling to bite cannot effectively protect the house.\u201d\u00a0http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/22\/justice-is-denied-when-justice-is-delayed-holding-district-attorney%e2%80%99s-accountable\/<\/p>\n In just the two years since Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich has been in Office, two different judges have ordered the granting of new trials. I write about the William Zieglar and Toby Priest cases here: http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/21\/another-judge-grants-a-new-trial-in-mobile-alabama-a-reaction-to-the-lagniappe-article-on-william-zieglar\/<\/a>.\u00a0 What the Assistant District Attorneys say in these articles are very telling about the convict and maintain the conviction at all cost mentality found in far too many district attorney\u2019s offices.<\/p>\n Mobile Bar Association President Upchurch states in his \u201cComments\u201d the following:<\/p>\n “There is a special brotherhood among criminal defense lawyers, and within the family of prosecutors. They protect and support each other. They develop close, personal relationships. They stick together.” http:\/\/origin.library.constantcontact.com\/download\/get\/file\/1106306587790-68\/May2013.pdf<\/p>\n This is PRECISELY WHY the Alabama and Mobile State Bar Associations and the State of Alabama need to push for Conviction Integrity Unit and help to fund an Innocent Project or something similar such as North Carolina\u2019s Innocence Inquiry Commission as a District Attorney who may have a 14 year relationship with prosecutors in her office may be hesitant to address what the judges stated in the Zieglar and Priest cases, thus, the \u201cit\u2019s business as usual\u201d message may prevail. I had a painful exchange with a state legislator who did not feel that there was a need for a state funded innocence project in Alabama because the judicial system allows for appeals and that the Governor can grant pardons and clemency. After I shared with the legislator in question this letter from former Governor Riley stating that Alabama Governors DO NOT have the ability to grant pardons, I received no further response (http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/yahoo_site_admin\/assets\/docs\/Gov_Bob_Riley.3135215.jpg)<\/p>\n I wonder what it would be like to be a criminal defense lawyer or prosecutor (Conclusion)<\/strong><\/p>\n I am perfectly aware that criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors may see the worst of the worst and it does have an impact on them, prosecutors want to get the bad people off the streets.\u00a0 But to be a prosecutor should also be to understand that you have a moral, ethical and legal duty to work just as hard to prove innocence \u00a0as you do to find guilt- this is what Supreme Court Justice stated Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in the Thompson v. Connick case where John Thompson spent 18 years in prison (14 on death row) for crimes he did not commit, prosecutors withheld evidence showing his innocence, and, unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision essentially gave prosecutors further immunity from being held accountable for these actions. As Thompson stated following the disappointing U.S. Supreme Court ruling: \u201cIf I\u2019d spilled hot coffee on myself, I could have sued the person who served me the coffee,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t sue the prosecutors who nearly murdered me.\u201d (http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/03\/30\/us\/30scotus.html?_r=0<\/a> see also his New York Times op-ed entitled \u201cThe Prosecution Can Rest, But I Can\u2019t\u201d (http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/04\/10\/opinion\/10thompson.html?pagewanted=all)<\/p>\n District Attorney Ashley Rich seems to believe what Justice Ginsburg said in the Thompson case\u00a0that it is among prosecutors unique ethical oblications to produce Brady evidence to the defense. Rich said when she ran for office in 2010 (this when she was a candidate running\u00a0to be the District Attorney for Mobile\u00a0County):<\/p>\n “Ashley Rich, a Mobile Assistant DA for 14 years and current candidate to replace John Tyson, Jr. said on a radio show in Mobile, AL on September 16, 2010 during the 7am (cst) hour in response to a question about the Duke LaCrosse case and prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence: “If as a prosecutor you do not disclose exculpatory evidence, your career is over.\u00a0 Integrity is something that is so important because when you are a prosecutor, you not only have the duty to prosecute people and to put\u00a0people in jail, but you also have a duty to uphold the law. You have the duty to do that with integrity and with the ethical standards in place…\u00a0You must disclose exculpatory evidence because if you don’t, nothing good comes from it and\u00a0essentially you have prosecuted someone who may\u00a0not have committed the\u00a0crimes because you didn’t disclose exculpatory evidence.\u00a0 It is good that we have the Duke LaCrosse case as an example of what not to do.”\u00a0 She went on to say that\u00a0she would reopen a case and evidence should\u00a0be reviewed.\u00a0www.freerodneystanberry.com<\/a> or to listen to the radio program: http:\/\/freerodneystanberry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/u7am0916AshleyRich1.mp3<\/p>\n So why doesn\u2019t she practice this now? Why, knowing what she knows about the case of Rodney K. Stanberry, does she opt to maintain the conviction as opposed to working towards freeing an innocent man?\u00a0 To be a prosecutor means sometimes sanctioning the suppression of a legitimate confession, sanctioning the withholding of evidence, ensuring that you do not place a spotlight on the close-knit community of prosecutors by acknowledging that at times, they did not do the right thing, and to practice a maintain a conviction at all cost mentality.\u00a0 We must never forget the case of Michael Morton, not only did the prosecutor withhold evidence that led to him spending 25 years of his life in prison, but the prosecutors convinced Morton\u2019s family of his guilt and with the power and authority prosecutors wield, they also wield trust.\u00a0 Morton\u2019s own son changed his name on his 18th<\/sup> birthday, believing his dad was guilty of murdering his mother.\u00a0 For 25 years Morton was the criminal and a member of\u00a0the victim\u2019s family, but the prosecutors treated him to one of\u00a0the most unjust acts imaginable, taking away his freedom, and convincing the jury and his family that they were doing the right thing.\u00a0 As much as we value prosecutors, value their role in society, value the need for people to work hard to put away bad folks even if the pay is low and the glory can be fleeting, we must value the pursuit of truth and justice, regardless of how much time has passed by, regardless of how it may look.<\/p>\n Mobile Bar Association President Michael Upchurch, please do what you can to encourage prosecutors to pursue true justice and to encourage the establishment of a body to review cases where there is evidence of innocence. And the next time you write a very intriguing column such as the one you wrote in the newsletter that I am commenting on, please include your thoughts about the ethics of prosecuting the innocent and ensuring that they remain in prison. <\/strong>It is a false sense of justice that I\u2019m sure you\u2019d object to.<\/p>\n Peace,<\/p>\n Artemesia Stanberry<\/p>\n www.freerodneystanberry.com and www.freerodneystanberry.com\/blog<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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