3 ms·

Defense & prosecution aren't on a search for truth, they are on a search to make the best possible case for & against you, respectively. That's their role in th

by ip26 5y ago

Defense & prosecution aren't on a search for truth, they are on a search to make the best possible case for & against you, respectively. That's their role in the system. Law enforcement (officers, investigators) I would hope to be on the search for truth.

watwut 5y ago
Purely theoretically, prosecution should search truth. By law, they should follow exculpatory evidence too, give all evidence to defense and few other rules. Not saying they do, in practice they are rewarded for breaking those rules. But, in theory it should be different.
- giantg2 5y ago
  They also aren't allowed to hold known incorrect charges against someone when that incorrect charge carries pretrial restrictions that the correct charge does not. In my experience, you are absolutely right that they do not follow these laws/rules. I highly doubt that they added the trooper's name to their Guiglio list even after I provided evidence that the trooper lied in court related to two separate facts.
giantg2 5y ago
Yes, as an adversarial system they are to make the best case. However, it still must be truthful. The trooper didn't care about the truth. He lied in court... twice. We mentioned a third party witness at the scene - they never questioned them. There was no statutory definition of a term. The dictionaries had only one open ended definition for the term. We wrote to the state agency that is the authority in that area to see what guidance they have on the activity - they said it's legal (even if they didn't, the rule of strict construction requires ambiguity to be favorable to the defense). The people in the system didn't care. The trooper also knew that the other party committed a crime, but declined to charge them. What a one sided system... again, truth doesn't matter when they treat you as guilty until proven innocent.
rtlfe 5y ago
> Defense & prosecution aren't on a search for truth, they are on a search to make the best possible case for & against you, respectively. The most important things prosecution does are: decide who to prosecute, decide when to ask for bail, decide what sentence to ask for. This all has a lot more to do with societal values than making a strong case.

by ip26 5y ago

watwut 5y ago

Purely theoretically, prosecution should search truth. By law, they should follow exculpatory evidence too, give all evidence to defense and few other rules. Not saying they do, in practice they are rewarded for breaking those rules. But, in theory it should be different.

giantg2 5y ago
They also aren't allowed to hold known incorrect charges against someone when that incorrect charge carries pretrial restrictions that the correct charge does not. In my experience, you are absolutely right that they do not follow these laws/rules. I highly doubt that they added the trooper's name to their Guiglio list even after I provided evidence that the trooper lied in court related to two separate facts.

giantg2 5y ago

Yes, as an adversarial system they are to make the best case. However, it still must be truthful. The trooper didn't care about the truth. He lied in court... twice. We mentioned a third party witness at the scene - they never questioned them. There was no statutory definition of a term. The dictionaries had only one open ended definition for the term. We wrote to the state agency that is the authority in that area to see what guidance they have on the activity - they said it's legal (even if they didn't, the rule of strict construction requires ambiguity to be favorable to the defense). The people in the system didn't care. The trooper also knew that the other party committed a crime, but declined to charge them. What a one sided system... again, truth doesn't matter when they treat you as guilty until proven innocent.

rtlfe 5y ago

> Defense & prosecution aren't on a search for truth, they are on a search to make the best possible case for & against you, respectively. The most important things prosecution does are: decide who to prosecute, decide when to ask for bail, decide what sentence to ask for. This all has a lot more to do with societal values than making a strong case.