When Law Enforcement Assaults Defendants

In light of the recent situation involving a RI police officer and a woman in handcuffs, this article seemed pertinent. If you have been charged with a crime and need legal assistance, contact RI Criminal Defense Attorney John L. Calcagni at (401) 351-5100 for a confidential consultation.

ACLU Sues L.A. Sheriff & District Attorney
By MATT REYNOLDS

       LOS ANGELES (CN) - A criminal defense attorney claims in court that Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, Sheriff Leroy Baca and their offices unlawfully suppress evidence favorable to criminal defendants and cover up excessive-force complaints against deputies.

     Plaintiff Jeffrey Douglas sued Cooley, Baca and their offices in Superior Court. Douglas claims the defendants have violated the constitutional rights of "countless criminal defendants" by withholding evidence and failing to keep proper records of complaints against deputies.

     The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its landmark 1963 Brady vs. Maryland decision that prosecutors must disclose exculpatory evidence before trial.

     But Douglas says that Cooley unlawfully requires that exculpatory evidence be "'clear and convincing'" before it is disclosed, and allows suppression of such evidence if it is related to a pending investigation, or if a deputy district attorney deems that it unlikely to affect a verdict.

     "Not only do these requirements that deputy district attorneys suppress favorable evidence lack any legal basis, but they are also expressly contrary to law," the complaint states.

     Douglas also claims that Sheriff Baca fails to properly maintain inmate complaints against deputies for 5 years, as required by the penal code.

     "In the face of this unequivocal statutory mandate, an LASD [Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department] representative has testified in open court that respondents Baca and LASD have decided that, in the case of inmates in the Los Angeles County jails, they will simply ignore the requirements of the statute and instead file inmate complaints about deputies in only the inmates' files, such that LASD simply cannot search for inmate complaints implicating specific deputies," the complaint states.

     Douglas claims that policy results in "countless Brady violations," and that defendants cannot get access to complaints, even though Los Angeles County "unquestionably has them."

Read more HERE