Here is a great video. It gets really great right about 18 minutes in. Here’s the context.
Mr. Baca was convicted of murder in a California state court in large part due to the “jailhouse snitch” testimony of a Mr. Melendez. Melendez was prosecuted earlier for a separate crime by Deputy District Attorney Robert Spira. Spira took the stand in Baca’s case to discuss the plea deal that was ultimately reached which put Mr. Melendez in jail, and testified, under oath, that “Mr. Melendez did not get any consideration in exchange for testifying against Baca.”
Turns out, that was a lie, under oath.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals suggests that the Attorney General for the State of California should prosecute lying prosecutors for perjury, and should revoke the bar cards of officers of the court that bolster testimony of jailhouse snitches by lying to jurors. The Court goes on to suggest that it will start “naming names” if the Attorney General doesn’t take action.
Hat Tip to Andrew Fleischman for this story. Andrew is a great friend from my undergrad days at Georgia State’s Philosophy program, and is an accomplished criminal defense attorney and appellate practitioner in his own right.
More on this on the Dorer Daily, Tweet me at @DavidTDorer, listen to the David Dorer Show live every Friday, and download it on iTunes and on Stitcher.