September 11, 2007
Accountability
Jonathan Turley gives a chilling recitation about the history of false testimony by expert witnesses for the prosecution. It wasn't relevant to his argument, but he could have given an equally impressive account of perjury by police and informants.
The really frightening thing is that the perpetrators of false testimony, especially for the prosecution, almost never go to jail themselves. No surprise that prosecutors don't want to pick on their own witnesses. If anything were going to be done about the problem, the courts would have to do it. But with state criminal court judges largely drawn from the ranks of prosecutors, there's not much hope for that either. It ought to be surprising that police and prosecutors are so willing to cheat, but the fact is clear.
Remember this the next time your favorite law professor tells you about the glories of the adversarial system.
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