"TRUTH IN JUSTICE"
As a result of the lack of accountability for police and prosecutors who engage in misconduct meant to ensure criminal conviction victories at all costs, and because of the judges who encourage such misconduct by allowing it to occur without penalty, the following proposal for a change in law is respectfully submitted:
"Truth In Justice"
* Procedure and Standard of Proof ~ A defendant may raise a claim in the trial court at any time prior to or during trial or prior to sentencing, or to the courts during the appeal process or collateral review process, which demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence that the State, and or any of its agents and or any of its investigators and or any of its witnesses, did engage in conduct to tamper with or conceal any evidence, or tamper with or otherwise influence any witness statement or testimony, or to conceal any prior misconduct of any agent or investigator or witness involved in the case investigation, whether or not called to testify at trial, in such a manner that conceals or withholds any material truth in a criminal case charged against the Defendant by the State.
Upon the filing of such a claim by the Defendant, the Court shall order the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged conduct did not occur.
Any showing by the State that the conduct did occur but is alleged to have been unintentional shall not be an affirmative defense to the imposition of the penalty required by this section.
* Penalty ~ In the event the State fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the alleged conduct did not occur, the judge or judges to whom the evidence has been presented shall dismiss with prejudice all charges related to the criminal case brought against the Defendant by the State.
* Accountability ~ A judge who fails to impose the penalty required by this section shall be removed from the bench for a period of three years following a first occurrence. Subject to reinstatement, a judge who fails to impose the penalty required by this section in any subsequent case shall be permanently removed from the bench.
* Retroactivity ~ "Truth In Justice" is retroactive and supersedes all other Rules of Court and legal precedents and provisions under the law which require or allow a court to review evidence in a light most favorable to the State or that allows a court to conduct a review of the evidence under analysis for "harmless error" or that suggest comity or finality can or should outweigh truth and integrity in justice.
* The accountability requirement of this section is not retroactive. __________________________________________________________________
It would be a violation of ex post facto legal tenets to impose punishment on judges for their past inaction in allowing State corruption in cases that ended in convictions before the effective date of this change in law. However, judges would still be subject to accountability for failing to follow this law in any current appeal or post-conviction review and in cases where a petition is filed under the retroactivity section.
Recognizing there will be legislators who lack the fortitude to enact any law that holds judges accountable for allowing police and prosecutor corruption, let the numbers serve as a reminder:
According to the latest statistics, the total number of police in the United States is less than 0.22% of the population... less than 1 in 400 Americans. Add to that every prosecutor, every judge, every jail and prison officer, and their total numbers are still far less than 1% of the population.
Simple math proves that the public does not have to tolerate police and prosecutor corruption.
If legislators won't do it, the public is free to initiate ballot proposals that will let voters decide whether the government should be required to tell the truth and act with integrity before being allowed to imprison or execute members of the American public.
Juries are known and proven failures because the American public is so unaware of the corruption being allowed by the courts. Most of the news media falsely portray dirty cops and lying prosecutors as being rare exceptions. Crime dramas and court shows on television are used as propaganda, meant to maintain the public's faith in a system that, in reality, is corrupt at every level.
Anyone opposed to "Truth In Justice" is either ignorant of how broken the courts are, or simply wants police and prosecutor corruption to continue without penalty.
Expect police unions and prosecutor organizations to oppose it.
Expect judges to oppose it, too... just the dirty ones.