By Connie Martinez and Sarah Chayet
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Monday announced in a news release that the NACDL, in partnership with the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and its Miami Chapter, is urging the State Attorney to address the issue of prosecutorial misconduct in Florida.
The NACDL attributes this call to action to the exposure of allegations against the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
The NACDL, in its statement, defines prosecutorial misconduct as actions that “distort the truth-finding process and taint the credibility of the criminal justice system, including the outcomes they generate.”
The NACDL recommended the State Attorney to create an ethics oversight unit to address this issue of prosecutorial misconduct, and serve to identify the origins of any prosecutorial misconduct and how these circumstances came to be.
One incident of prosecutorial misconduct cited by the NACDL was the 10-year-long manipulation of confessed mass shooter William “Little Bill” Brown, who was directed by Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office officials to provide information about other accused people from inside prison for the purpose of building cases against them.
The NACDL reports that in return for the information, prosecutors gave Brown “the plea deal of a lifetime—25 years for two murders.” He was previously facing the death penalty.
However, the NACDL states, “Field Krasnoff said this case is not the first instance of misconduct that the FACDL has found related to the county’s state attorney’s office.”
The NACDL provided further examples of witness manipulation, citing, “Former Miami-Dade prosecutor Michael Von Zamft was thrown off the death penalty case of a Miami gangster after a judge said he and another Miami-Dade prosecutor manipulated witness testimony to give the state an unfair advantage in court.”
These exchanges of information and tampering with legal processes, argues the NACDL, can be deemed unconstitutional.
“Until this serious problem is remedied, our legal system will continue to suffer, and the respect accorded it by the public will continue to diminish,” said Michael P. Heiskell, president of NACDL.
