TULSA, Okla. — While the nation’s high court is trying to decide whether Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip will get a new trial due to key evidence not revealed during his murder-for-hire trial — a new report claims Glossip may not be alone in this evidence-lacking problem.
Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, a Tulsa-based non-profit organization, released a new report called, “The Truth Will Always Come Out: Prosecutorial misconduct, Brady, and lack of justice in Oklahoma.”
It claims pervasive misconduct in Oklahoma, mainly involving withheld evidence by prosecutors. That is known as a “Brady” violation, based on a 1963 Supreme Court ruling.
“It is a good ruling; it is one of the cornerstones of criminal practice, but it’s really hard to enforce because the person who is deciding what is helpful to you is also the person that is prosecuting you,” said Colleen McCarty, Executive Director for Appleseed, referring to prosecutors’ control over the evidence. “They stand to win if they don’t turn over everything.”
McCarty and her colleagues wanted to know how many current prisoners may have been denied a fair trial.
They narrowed the focus to murder cases from 1990 to 2004 in Oklahoma, Tulsa, and Pontotoc counties.
Those are areas and a time period they call notorious for documented misconduct by district attorneys (who are no longer in office), like withholding evidence and secret deals to co-defendants.
“A lot of people were getting plea deals, a lot of people were not getting charged when they should have been charged, and they were testifying against people,” said McCarty. “A lot of that evidence is considered Brady evidence.”
Findings show 500 potential Brady violations against current prisoners, with nine where the misconduct is “highly probable.” They estimate up to 30% of cases from that time frame may deserve a new trial.
Appleseed believes one major problem involves current state rules. For example, even if the inmate gets an appeal, current court rules don’t seem to align with “Brady” because McCarty said it is difficult to include new evidence.
Appleseed wants the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to amend the rule to make it a more level playing field.
Appleseed is also calling on Oklahoma to change the time frame prosecutors have to hand over evidence to the defense.
Right now, prosecutors can wait until only 10 days before trial. The legal term for disclosing evidence earlier in the process is called “open file discovery.”
They also believe an oversight committee would be helpful as well as a Conviction Integrity Unit. A CIU is a specialized unit within a DA’s office that focuses on possible misconduct. McCarty said there are several states that already have successful CIUs.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
