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Is New Jersey a Poster Child for Prosecutorial Misconduct?

Bruno Hauptmann…  Rubin Hurricane Carter… Kelly Michaels… The Trenton Six…

You’re likely familiar with these New Jersey defendants whose trials grabbed national headlines when their verdicts were called into question by tainted evidence and flawed prosecutorial ethics.

Now how about these names?

Jorge De Los Santos. Clarence Moore. Rene Santana. Larry Peterson. Earl Berryman. Michael Bunch. Vincent James Landano. John Dixon. Nathaniel Harvey. McKinley Cromed. George Parker. Damaso Vega. David Shephard. Brian Halsey.

All were defendants from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s accused of either rape and murder whose original convictions in New Jersey courtrooms were later reversed due to egregious errors committed by the prosecution.

How widespread is the problem of prosecutorial misconduct in New Jersey courtrooms today?

A Feb. 22 public forum of legal experts will attempt to answer that question and assess the impact of prosecutorial misconduct on the presumption of fairness in our American legal system.

“Prosecutorial Misconduct: The Dark Side of U.S. Justice” takes place Feb. 22 from 4-6 p.m. at Seton Hall University Law School in Newark, co-presented by Seton Hall and the Hall Institute of Public Policy, a non-partisan think tank located in Trenton and headed by presidential scholar and former college president Michael P. Riccards.

The panel is moderated by renowned legal ethics scholar and Seton Hall law professor Paula Franzese and will include defense attorney and former Court TV analyst Raymond M. Brown, Jr., U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul A. Fishman, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and former Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, Harvey Weissbard.

The Forum is open to the public and admission is free, though registration is required.

To register, click here. CLE Credits are available for attorneys.

Since 1997, according to a USA Today investigation, there have been 201 U.S. Justice Department criminal cases in which federal prosecutors violated laws and ethics rules.

The problem occurs all too frequently at the state level as well. A 2010 nationwide study by TheInnocence Project cites 255 current DNA exoneration cases in which 12% of the original guilty verdictswere found by appeal courts to have contained prosecutorial misonduct or error.

“Prosecutors are the most powerful figures in the American criminal justice system,” says Hall Institute Executive Director Michael P. Riccards.

“This forum offers solutions on what can be done to alleviate the what seem to be a growing number of prosecutorial abuses and misconduct in our legal system.”

WHAT: Hall Institute of Public Policy Special Forum — "Prosecutorial Misconduct: The Dark Side of U.S. Justice"

• Co-sponsored by Seton Hall University School of Law
• Moderated by Prof. Paula Franzese, Peter W. Rodino Professor of Law
• Featuring:
  • Defense Attorney/Court TV Analyst Raymond M. Brown, Jr. of Greenbaum, Rowe,Smith & Davis
  • U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey, Paul A. Fishman
  • Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray
  • Former Judge, Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, Harvey Weissbard, ofGenova, Burns and Giantomasi

WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Seton Hall University School of Law, One Newark Center-Room 272,1085 Raymond Blvd., Newark, NJ 07102

REGISTER: Open to Public — Free Admission — Click here to reserve your seat

Background

For background on Prosecutorial Misconduct:

• Win at All Costs:  Government Misconduct in the Name of Expedient Justice

An award-winning 10-part investigative series from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette documenting cases of federal agents and prosecutors pursuing justice by breaking the law.

• John Edwards and the Prosecutors by Michael P. Riccards
• Prosecutorial Misconduct and Abuse by Michael P. Riccards
• Seton Hall Attorneys File Amicus Brief in United States v. Hamdan

Featured Speakers

MODERATOR: PAULA FRANZESE, Seton Hall University’sPeter W. Rodino Professor of Law, is one of the country's leading experts ingovernment ethics, spearheading ethics reform initiatives on behalf of threegovernors, serving as Special Ethics Counsel to Governor Richard Codey,Chair of the State Ethics Commission, Vice-Chair of the Election LawEnforcement Commission and as ethics advisor to state and localgovernments across the country, including Mayor Cory Booker'sadministration in Newark.

She joined in the submission to the U.S. Supreme Court of an amicus brief in the Kelo Case andhas written and presented on takings law reform. In 2011 she was presented with the NationalCouncil on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) Award, the highest form of recognitionconferred by the organization, in honor of her "significant, demonstrable and positivecontributions to the fields of campaign finance, elections, ethics, freedom of information andlobbying over a significant period of time."

RAYMOND M. BROWN, JR. is a former legal analyst for Court TVand a current litigator and partner with Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis,where he chairs the white-collar crime practice group. Brown’s father,Raymond A. Brown, was one of the first African-American judge advocategenerals in the U.S. military, one of the first African-American lawyers inNew Jersey, and, as president of the Jersey City branch of the NAACP,intensely involved in the civil rights movement.

Mr. Brown has appeared in high profile trials including the nine-month trial involving formerLabor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan and the successful eight-year defense of senior executivesof a major multinational corporation charged with environmental violations. Mr. Brown hasappeared in courts in 12 states and conducted investigations throughout the U.S. as well as inKenya, El Salvador, the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, the Bahamas, Colombia and Sierra Leone.Mr. Brown has served as Counsel before the International Criminal Court in the Hague and asCo-Lead Defense Counsel at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

PAUL J. FISHMAN, U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey, wasnominated by President Barack Obama as the United States Attorneyfor the District of New Jersey and sworn in on October 14, 2009.

As U.S. Attorney, he is responsible for overseeing all federal criminalinvestigations and prosecutions and the litigation of all civil mattersin New Jersey in which the federal government has an interest.

Mr. Fishman was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1983 to 1994, during which time heserved as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, Chief of Narcotics, Chief of the CriminalDivision and First Assistant U.S. Attorney. From 1994 to 1997, he was a senior adviser to theAttorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States on a variety of lawenforcement, legislative, policy, national security and international matters, as well as on specificinvestigations and prosecutions.

In addition to his service as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Fishman serves as Chair of Attorney GeneralHolder’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys (“AGAC”). Created in 1973, the AGACrepresents the voice of the U.S. Attorneys and provides advice and counsel to the AttorneyGeneral on policy, management and operational issues affecting the offices of the United States Attorneys across the country.

CAROLYN A. MURRAY, Acting Essex County Prosecutor, has servedin her current post since Feb. 22, 2011; she was formerly counsel to NewJersey Attorney General Paula T. Dow and possesses more than 20 years ofcounty, state and federal prosecutorial experience.

She served in the executive office of the Attorney General and advised theAttorney General on legal, policy and administrative matters, with anemphasis on matters relevant to the criminal justice system.

Murray formerly served the Essex Prosecutor’s Office as Counsel and First Assistant Prosecutor;she joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark in 1995, where she served eight years underfuture Gov. Chris Christie as an Assistant U.S. Attorney before receiving promotion to Chief ofthe Public Prosecution Unit. As Counsel to the Attorney General, Ms. Murray was responsiblefor oversight of several divisions of the Attorney General’s Office including the Division ofCriminal Justice, Division on Civil Rights and Juvenile Justice Commission.

HARVEY WEISSBARD served as a Judge of the Superior Court of NewJersey, Appellate Division, for eight years and, prior to that, as a trial judge inthe Criminal Division. He is a member of the Complex Commercial LitigationPractice Group of Genova, Burns and Giantomasi.

Mr. Weissbard was appointed by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey SupremeCourt as Chairman of the Supreme Court’s Committee on the Rules ofEvidence and is still an active member. He was also chosen to serve as ViceChairman of the Committee on Recordation of Custodial Interrogations, whichled to a landmark report adopted by the Supreme Court, requiring recordation of lawenforcement questioning of criminal suspects.

Prior to his judicial appointment, Mr. Weissbard sustained a vigorous trial and appellate practicefor 35 years. He tried numerous civil and criminal cases and also argued many appeals on boththe state and federal levels. He was President of the New Jersey Association of Criminal DefenseLawyers and a trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association; he is a fellow of the AmericanCollege of Trial Lawyers and member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.

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