Dallas County District Judge Mark Stoltz
Dallas County District Judge Mark Stoltz
Dallas District Judge Mark Stoltz ordered the two defendants, Dennis Allen and Stanley Mozee, released on bail last year after agreeing with the District Attorney that exculpatory evidence had been withheld and they deserved relief. But the CCA remanded the case, ordering the trial court to take testimony from the prosecutor in question, which is what will happen Monday.
For more background, see past coverage from the Dallas Morning News and the national Innocence Project, which represents Mr. Mozee. IPOT represents Mr. Allen.
MORE: With Monday's hearing happening so soon before the first meeting of the Timothy Cole Exoneration Review Commission on Oct. 29, it occurred to me it may be helpful to provide links to policy resources on confidential informants related to issues which arise in these two cases and others since 2010 - most notably Richard and Megan Winfrey involving jailhouse informant testimony:
- Russell D. Covey, "Abolishing Jailhouse Snitch Testimony," 2014.
- The Justice Project, "Jailhouse Snitch Testimony: A Policy Review," 2007.
- Center on Wrongful Convictions (Northwestern University), "The Snitch System," 2005.
- Alexandra Natapoff, "Snitching: The Institutional and Communal Consequences," 2004.
- Alexandra Natapoff, "Beyond Unreliable: How snitches contribute to wrongful convictions," 2006.
- Written testimony by Alexandra Natapoff on law enforcement's use of confidential informants to the US House Judiciary Committee, July 2007
- Robert Bloom, "Jailhouse Informants," Criminal Justice magazine (ABA), Spring 2003,
- Dahlia Lithwick in Slate on the Orange County jailhouse snitch scandal (June 2015).
- Denver Post series (April 2015): See here, here, and here.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette series on local "informant mill" (Oct. 2014): See here, here, here, and here.
- Washington Post (Jan. 2015) on the failure to protect informants who cooperate with police.
- Truthout (March 2015) on a police-run jailhouse informant ring in Detroit.
- IPNY on the use of incentivized informant testimony.
- IPNY model legislation governing informants.
- Tools for lawyers to challenge informant testimony from the ACLU.
- Snitching.org (Natapoff's blog)
Jailhouse snitches have the moral character of grave robbers. When facing serious time, a jailhouse snitch will lie on his/her own mother. D.A.s entice jailhouse rats by offering leniency, such as reducing the charge to a lesser crime. If all else fails, a d.a. can always lay out thirty pieces of silver.
ReplyDeleteMichael W. Jewell
President, Texas CURE
What happened in the Kerry Cook case is a good example of how this type of thing can be harmful in more ways than one. That jailhouse snitch was facing a murder charge and they gave him a sweetheart deal for manslaughter. He got out of jail and killed again. They used a killer to convict an innocent man, and the killer was freed so that he could kill again. That's what happens when you put winning above all else.
ReplyDeleteAlthough no one has ever made the connection before, a forensic scientist is kinda like a snitch. Forensic analysts produce reports almost exclusively for the Prosecution.
ReplyDeleteForensic analysts (willingly or ignorantly) omit scientific information, exaggerate inculpatory findings, or present false information favorable to the prosecution. In return, the forensic analysts receives a paycheck, a promotion, or pay raise (or at least avoids constructive termination and harassment from their supervisors).
Many crime labs will claim "independence" from the Prosecution's Office, but the relationship is often harmonious (much like a snitch and the Prosecution's Office).
The Innocence Project has suggested that at least 15% of wrongful convictions included fraudulent snitch testimony. Upwards of 45% of wrongful convictions included fraudulent or misleading forensic testimony.
So there are similarities. Except forensic scientists do it while wearing a white coat.