DUI Defender

Earlier this month it was impossible to avoid media coverage of the Durham, N.C. prosecutor Michael B. Nifong’s defense of his conduct as Prosecutor in the Duke University Lacrosse team prosecution. He eventually was forced to defend his actions in an unsuccessfull attempt to save his license to practice law. His misconduct extended to extreme prosecutorial abuse, he made prejudicial comments to the media, withheld DNA evidence and proffered testimony from a victim that consistently changed her story and played up the racial aspect of the case. This level of prosecutorial misconduct only came to the media’s attention due to the national interest in the case.

Unfortunately, it is common that we experience this sort of conduct (albeit not always so glaring) in the daily practice of DUI law. While defense attorney’s are expected to use whatever ethical tactics are available to provide a vigorous defense for their clients, a prosecutor’s duty is try to discover the truth and thereby attain justice both for the accused and the society that they are sworn to represent. All to often, in cases as minor as DUI’s, the Prosecutor gets wrapped up in the need for vistory and forgets that the truth is what they are sworn to seek, not just a conviction.

In an article written for the Washinton Post, Jonathan Turley, describes several high profile cases in which the prosecution forgot their duty to seek the truth and instead sought victory, a citizen forced to defend their honor, reputation and innocence from the very government to which they pay taxes and, theoretically fund their own prosecution. The fact is that many prosecutor’s offices have rates of conviction of 90% or higher. Often times the vanity of the prosecutor is a factor in the decision whether to prosecute a case, it could be that they have a bias against the particular crime, attorney or even defendant. That bias can lead to improper decisions regarding whether to prosecute a case, the strength of the evidence and the justice of seeking a conviction. In his article he references a Texas prosecutor who stated, when told he had gotten a conviction (and death sentence) against an innocent man, any prosecutor can convict a guilty man; it takes a great prosecutor to convict an innocent man.

All to often as we wage war against the government that consitently seeks to erode the constitutional protections that we once took for granted, we see the prosecution fail to provide citizen’s with the discretion that they alone bear as part of the criminal justice system.

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