The Center for Prosecutor Integrity (CPI) released a proposed bill today that would require federal prosecutors to employ an open-file policy which would provide defense attorneys full access to all evidence pertinent to the case.
Today under the Brady requirement, prosecutors are required to disclose only the evidence they determine would likely impact the outcome of the case. The Federal Prosecutor Integrity Act addresses the leading type of federal prosecutorial misconduct—Brady violations—in which prosecutors fail to disclose exculpatory evidence that would establish the innocence of the defendant.
Beginning at the time of arraignment, the Federal Prosecutor Integrity Act would ensure that federal prosecutors disclose all witness statements, forensic test results, documents, and all other relevant evidence available to the defense. The bill would also ensure that prosecutors are held accountable to open-file standards through various sanctions if the standards are violated, including a court’s ordering of a new trial, entering a “not guilty” verdict, monetary sanctions, and providing the defendant the right to civil action if exculpatory evidence is withheld by the prosecutor.
Various state and local governments have already implemented open-file policies with great success and efficacy in assuring full disclosure of evidence to the defense. According to CPI Advisory Board Chairman Phillip Kuhn, “As a former district attorney, I found an Open-File policy allowed the case to be resolved more fairly and quickly because the defense attorney was able to see all the evidence. It nearly defies belief that in this day and age, prosecutors are still concealing evidence that would keep an innocent man from going to jail.”
Read the bill here.