The Palladium case illustrates how wrongful convictions can and do happen. In this video from Dateline NBC, one of the investigators that helped to uncover evidence leading to the exonerations of Olmedo Hidalgo and David Lemus speaks out about the investigation. He notes that if the defense had been given all of the information that they had at the time of the trial, the outcome would have been different. The district attorney ignored evidence, and the defense did not put on any witnesses during their case.
On the video, the forelady of the jury that convicted them speaks about the trial and the verdict, and how when they read the verdict she heard a woman seated behind the defense table "scream in such torment and agony and surprise that I thought, oh my god, somebody actually thinks they're innocent. And then I thought, that has to be somebody's mother; it sounded like a woman who had just been told her son had died."
One defendant's mother talks about how she thought her son should cop a plea, because if he was found guilty by a jury, he would get life in prison, but if he copped a plea, the most he would do was eight years.
Particularly in murder cases, there is a lot of pressure on law enforcement to solve the case, and make an arrest. When they make an arrest, sometimes it is the "most likely suspect," and may be based only on statements from other defendants looking for plea deals. Once an arrest is made, there is a lot of pressure on the prosecutor to get a conviction. The danger is when a prosecutor stands in front of a jury and says to them, this man is guilty, many people want to believe the prosecutor despite the shaky evidence. Here is a person who looks honest and straightforward, he or she is a representative of the government (we all trust the government, don't we?), and this prosecutor would not be telling us to convict this man unless it is true that this man is guilty.
The jury is afraid that if they find reasonable doubt and find an accused murderer not guilty, the defendant may go out and kill another person. The jury may not understand fully what the standard of reasonable doubt means and how central it is to our justice system, and the defense may or may not explain it fully to them. If the Defendant does not testify, the jury will hold it against him, no matter how many times the judge instructs them not to. If the defense does not put on any witnesses at all, it seems damning to the jury.
The jury will not know if there is evidence that the defense could have presented to them, if the prosecutor never turns it over to the defense. Some prosecutors have their own opinion of what constitutes Brady material, and either have not read Brady and Kyles v. Whitley or do not care. Many prosecutors do not understand or do not care that they have a duty under Kyles v. Whitley to seek out Brady material that is in the possession of any government agency, and instead they say to the defense and to the Court, "you have everything that is in my file." There are times when the investigator buries Brady material without the prosecutor's knowledge, and there are times when Brady material simply falls through the cracks due to negligence or shoddy investigations.
I believe that the prosecutor has a duty to not go forward with a case not only if he firmly believes in the defendant's innocence, but if the prosecutor knows that there is real doubt as to the defendant's guilt. Prosecutors know the real danger that a jury will blindly trust a prosecutor despite the existence of reasonable doubt, and in some cases, simply stating to the jury "he is guilty," can result in a miscarriage of justice.
The time to prevent wrongful convictions is before the jury returns their verdict. We rely on ethical prosecutors to prevent wrongful convictions, and when that fails we rely on conscientious judges to prevent wrongful convictions, but there are times when the only thing standing between a defendant and a terrible injustice is the jury, and the defense attorney's ability to present his client's case to the jury.
