DISQUS

Greg Jones · 1 year ago

I once represented a man on a charge of child sexual abuse. The rape kit, done some 36 hours after the alleged offense, showed no evidence of sexual abuse. The police and prosecutor had this information in May, charged the crime in August, withheld the report before the preliminary exam, and only turned it over after Christmas. Had it been available at the exam, the case would have been dismissed, said the judge who heard the case. My client sat in jail until March, when he was acquitted. I then complained to the bar about the withholding of exculpatory evidence. The prosecutor's repsonse was that the rape exam kit, showing no sexual abuse had occured, was NOT exculpatory, a position the bar agreed with. If the bar won't treat such matters as exculpatory, we need to be able to sue for such misconduct.