Brady v. Maryland

According to Wikipedia: Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that established that the prosecution must turn over all evidence that might exonerate the defendant (exculpatory evidence) to the defense.^[1]: 4 The prosecution failed to do so for Brady, and he was convicted. Brady challenged his conviction, arguing it had been contrary to the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[2][3]

So how often does this actually happen; and how honest is everyone when it comes to having such evidence? How many times has police or prosecutors waited until the 11th hour when the statute of limitations is about to expire to file charges? I can assure you that both happened in my case. (They had I believe it was 2 years to file charges, which would have been in June 2017. They waited until May!) When this occurs, it then becomes even more difficult for the defense to go back to obtain certain pieces of evidence because so much time has elapsed. (For example: we tried to go back to obtain copies of video camera footage from convenience stores, etc. and unfortunately most stores only keep their video items for a certain amount of time). So, that begs to question on whether or not that this is a common tactic used by prosecution to delay bringing charges to a certain point, knowing that certain evidence won’t be able to be found. Evidence disappears, people move away, scenery changes, people’s memories change. Hmmm. Along with video now being unattainable, time has passed allowing accounts to be deleted, posts from social media to be altered or removed. There is no preservation of evidence because at that time the only people who knows there MIGHT be a case is the police and the DA’s office. (Isn’t that convenient). One might presume that you could rely on witnesses, however there is not always a lot of witnesses or people involved in a case. Therefore, witnesses are often called by the prosecution and then the only way to question them is through cross examination. In the instance for my case, people were being called into the DA’s office to be interviewed. When they arrived, they were seated in a conference room with the DA and the arresting officer. I don’t know if anyone else was there besides them. I know this because my son’s friends who had to appear and his girlfriend at the time came back and told him what took place. My son’s girlfriend’s father was angry during this meeting. He said that they were asked a series of questions and whenever they didn’t get the answers, they were looking for they felt brow beaten and felt like they were being pressured to try to say what it was they wanted. There was a point when the father stood up to the DA and confronted him head on about some of the questions. He also started to tell him things that he knew to be different than what was being asked. He said that they got so red faced and upset that the meeting was ended abruptly. They don’t want to know the truth. They want their version of the truth. I don’t know how one decides to become a prosecutor. I don’t know how one decides to become a defense attorney. Either side of this fence leaves you either ruthlessly trying to put someone behind bars to make everyone in town happy (Yah! crime is down and being taken care of) or you’re stuck defending someone that possibly did something, and you need to prove they didn’t. (So, how do you separate yourself from that if you feel in your heart that they did?) It’s tough. What I don’t agree with though is using these cases for political agendas, self-promotion, and to get your vengeance for the years you were bullied in school in your past. (Yes, I said it. I think many times people are on a power trip to avenge something that happened in their past). You can be passionate about something, but there comes a time when you need to be able to reflect on both sides of the coin. When you decide to get up every day and willfully manipulate things so that someone can’t properly present a case in their defense-well there’s a verse in the Bible about all that.

The laws of the land and the courts say that we have a right to confront our accusers. I call BS. I am going to walk through this process with you, so that you can understand how messed up things actually are. I want you to understand that this is NOT easy, and they don’t even try to make it easy. Many just give up and plead guilty because the cost to defend themselves and prove their innocence is unaffordable. Even those with money, still can’t get the proper defense. If you do, they have so many loops and hoops to jump through and each one cost more and more. It’s like playing nickel slots at the casino. You know your chances of winning are slim to none but, I have as much chance as anyone else right? So, you keep plugging the nickels into the machine until your bucket is empty and what do have to show for it? NOTHING! A smaller bank account, you still have charges and you’re still facing fines, court fees, and jail time. The only people that win is the court and the lawyers. (I can’t tell you the amount of people involved in the system have told me and people I know that “You were just a money maker for them”) I pray that I can keep you all interested as I try to explain our “injustice” system as I saw it unfold for me. I’m not a lawyer, I have no law degree. I’m just a Christian woman, wife, mother, parolee, who made a mistake and found out the hard way. Hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Photo by RODNAE Productions: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photos-of-evidence-on-the-white-table-6069247/

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