Transcripts, deposition detail alleged 'Brady' violation

After the Houston Chronicle published a story about a directed acquittal following an alleged Brady violation (withholding exculpatory evidence) by former prosecutor Jon Hall in a Galveston District Court, Grits linked to the article and lamented that the state bar had taken no action, basing that on the fact that no public reprimand had been issued more than two years after the event. My bad.

While it's true that as of yet there has been no disciplinary action, a source in Galveston informs me that, "The State Bar IS going after his license. They suffered a setback in a discovery hearing. They are appealing and I think they will win. [Mr. Bledsoe's] arrest was expunged. The DA used that as an excuse to say they cannot turn over their file, which contains  evidence of the prosecutor's [alleged] misdeeds." Grits must apologize for jumping to the conclusion that the state bar sat on their hands on this one: Sounds like they're at least taking the shot, which is all you can ask.

In a related update: Ask and ye shall receive! Grits mentioned earlier that it'd be interesting to read the underlying transcripts in the case, so many thanks to the long-time reader who passed them along. (This is model reader behavior, people: Please replicate it widely!) For those interested in more detail on the case, here's the portion of the trial transcript where the court and defense counsel first raise with Mr. Hall a 911 recording that contradicts key witness testimony the prosecution presented to the jury without reservation. Here's the part where Judge Susan Criss tells the jury what happened and issues the directed acquittal. And here's a copy of a deposition of the defense attorney, Jyll Rekoff, providing a detailed account of the events in question and accusing him of similarly withholding a 911 recording from defense counsel in an earlier case. Both the judge and defense attorney in open court said this wasn't the first time Mr. Hall - who was a prosecutor in Brazoria County for ten years before moving to the Galveston DA's office - allegedly failed to disclose evidence in their cases.

As it turns out, the revelation about withheld evidence wasn't due to an extraordinary defense investigation, though the defense attorney in the case seems to have done a good job. Instead, a cop testifying on the stand referred to a witness statement and a 911 recording that had not been turned over to the defense. Defense counsel told the judge she'd never seen those statements and got hold of copies that evening. On the 911 recording the state's star witness - who later picked the defendant out of a photo lineup - said the perpetrators wore ski masks and she couldn't even discern their race. That anyone would even show her a photo lineup after that - much less present the results to a jury without mentioning the 911 call - truly beggars belief.

Part of me would like to think this episode represents a sort of death rattle for behavior from the bad old days. The events took place before Texas implemented improvements to eyewitness ID procedures. And open-file policies mandated in this year's Michael Morton Act should reduce the sort of behavior alleged in Galveston. Over time, those changes should help a lot in similar situations. Moreover, the attitudes of the judge and the state bar are heartening - those who're supposed to exercise oversight did so in this case, or in the case of the state bar, at least tried. Still, my more cynical side accepts that as long as there are competitions there will be people who cheat to win. One can teach ethical behavior but it's more difficult to instill it.