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Only a hit dog hollers: Brady violation at root of latest Dallas exoneration

I've read this story though several times now, and I think former prosecutor Patricia Hogue protests just a bit too much in her shrill accusation that Dallas DA Craig Watkins and his Conviction Integrity Unit misled the Court of Criminal Appeals and let a rapist free. "If the DA's office wants to do that and let rapists out of jail, that's OK. I'm not part of it anymore," Hogue said. "It's still absolutely false that I withheld evidence." At issue: Hogue accepted a plea from Antrone Johnson, then a juvenile, on sexual assault charges after the victim told her the day before trial that she hadn't really been raped. Reported Jennifer Emily at the News: Withholding such evidence from the defense is called a "Brady violation." The term refers to a 1963 U...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).