Court-Martial Trial Practice Blog
United States v. Jones, No. 07-10289-MLW, 2009 U.S. Dis. LEXIS 6434 (D. Mass. 21 January 2009).*
Prosecutors do this all the time. Prosecutors either fail to provide discovery or do so in a slow-rolling fashion. As the recent decision in Jones illustrates, it’s a gamble. The gamble is that provided there is no showing of actual prejudice to the accused, there is no case related consequence, and possibly no personal consequence to the prosecution.
In Jones there is a history of discovery problems from that U.S. Attorneys Office. The appellant wanted to suppress evidence. The prosecutor objected to a suppression motion based on information provided by the police. The judge, fortunately for appellant, held the hearing. It was during the hearing that the failure to disclose Brady[1] material came to light.