In 1991, Jonathan Doody was convicted of lining up numerous Buddhist priests, robbing them, and shooting them in the head. He was sentenced to multiple life sentences in prison. He was just 19 at the time. However, after years of incarceration, in 2008 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Doody’s confession to the crime based on the police officer’s violation of the Miranda requirement. Doody’s conviction rested solely on his confession to the police.

The Court threw out the confession because although the police had given Doody his Miranda warnings, they did not cease questioning when he refused to answer and did not allow him access to his parents or an attorney. Doody was questioned for 6 hours without any break, and finally at 2:30 in the morning he confessed. His attorney, and many others, claim he falsely confessed because at that point he had no other option.

The Court of Appeals ordered that Doody’s confession be thrown out of the case, and Doody receive a new trial without the confession. The prosecution appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court who rejected to hear that argument, allowing the 9th Circuit decision to stand. However, it is unlikely that the prosecution will be able to convict Doody without that confession, and he likely will be released. He has served almost 20 years in prison already.

The power of government officials and prosecutors is awesome. They have to power to punish. They can literally charge you with a crime, lock you up, and take away the keys. Often times we forget how much power these officials wield and how important it is to keep a check on their power through the criminal justice system. A startling example of what can occur when this power remains unchecked is the case of Hubert Vidrine. Here is an excerpt from a federal magistrate judge’s statements in awarding Vidrine more than a million dollars in damages based on a wholly unfounded prosecution of this man and his company for environmental waste.

Rather than finding Agent Phillips conduct and testimony supportive of a finding of the existence of probable cause, this court finds Agent Phillips testimony, conduct and documentation illustrate a deliberate pattern of disregard for oaths taken, truth of the matter involved, wholly lacking in intellectual honesty, and exhibiting a deliberate intent to mislead all involved, particularly the prosecutors with whom he worked and who were relying upon his investigation and technical expertise in order to evaluate their case. Agent Phillips has displayed the very worst example of abuse and misuse of the power and trust bestowed upon a governmental agent, and has brought great shame upon the agency which had entrusted him with that power, responsibility, and authority . . . . It is sufficient for this Court to find Keith Phillips set out with a flagrant and reckless disregard of the rights of Hubert Vidrine, in that he deliberately controlled and skewed the investigation, falsified and sculpted reports and requests made to his superiors, mislead the prosecutor, gave patently false testimony under oath to the grand jury, made false verifications to this Court, all the while taking advantage of the opportunity he created to pursue his clandestine sexual affair with Agent Barnhill.

WOW.
Federal Agent Phillips made up charges and lied to create a case against an innocent man; this was evidence that a United States Attorney relied upon to prosecute Vidrine for a crime that didn’t exist. What was the purpose of all the lies? Phillips wanted to be able to continue a sexual affair with another federal agent.
WOW.
This is exactly why defense attorneys are necessary. Prosecutions are unfounded sometimes. People are innocent sometimes. Law enforcement officials lie sometimes. This is a fact of life, we are all human. So who is willing to stand up to these people who have such awesome power? Criminal defense attorneys. While some people may think this type of behavior is the exception, and not the rule, however true that may be, if you were Vidrine do you care?
(Hattip to Popehat.)