The lone miscreant, the self-training prosecutor, and other fictions: A comment on connick V. Thompson

Fordham Law Review

Volumn 80, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 715-736

  Bandes, Susan A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 81855203447     PISSN: 0015704X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (94)

1. 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011).
2. 373 U.S. 83 (1963).
3. 129 S. Ct. 855 (2009).
4. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006).
5. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1355.
6. Van de Kamp, 129 S. Ct. at 859
7. Erwin Chemerinsky, Head in the Sand over Prosecutorial Misconduct, NAT'L L.J. (Apr. 25, 2011) http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id= 1202491215314
8. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1370-72 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting).
9. "I don't care about the money." John Thompson, Op-Ed., The Prosecution Rests, but I Can't, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 10, 2011, at WK11.
10. Dahlia Lithwick, Cruel but Not Unusual, SLATE (Apr. 1, 2011, 7:43 AM), http://www.slate.com/id/2290036/.
11. Editorial, Failure of Empathy and Justice, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 1, 2011, at A26.
12. Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs. of N.Y., 436 U.S. 658 (1978).
13. Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469, 477-80 (1986)
14. City of Oklahoma City v. Tuttle, 471 U.S. 808, 823-24 (1985) (plurality opinion)
15. Monell, 436 U.S. at 694.
16. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2006).
17. Monell, 436 U.S. at 691-95.
18. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 388 (1989).
19. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 404, 407 (1997)
20. Canton, 489 U.S. at 388-90.
21. Brown, 520 U.S. at 404, 407
22. Canton, 489 U.S. at 388-90.
23. 475 U.S. 469 (1986).
24. 471 U.S. 808 (1985) (plurality opinion).
25. 489 U.S. 378 (1989).
26. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs v. Brown, 520 U.S. 397, 409 (1997).
27. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350, 1357-58 (2011).
28. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1366.
29. Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 443-44 (1976) (White, J., concurring).
30. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1367 (Scalia, J., concurring) ("Were Thompson's theory the law, there would have been no need for Canton's footnote to confine its hypothetical to the extreme circumstance of arming police officers with guns without [training] them about the . . . limitations upon shooting fleeing felons." (emphasis added)).
31. 131 S. Ct. at 1370 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting).
32. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011) (No. 09-571), 2010 WL 3907898, at 23 (statement of Stuart K. Duncan, representing Connick).
33. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1356 (majority opinion).
34. Susan Bandes, Patterns of Injustice: Police Brutality in the Courts, 47 BUFF. L. REV. 1275, 1275 (1999).
35. Susan Bandes, Tracing the Pattern of No Pattern: Stories of Police Brutality, 34 LOY. L.A. L. REV. 665 (2001).
36. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1384 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting).
37. Thompson v. Connick, 553 F.3d 836, 845-46 (5th Cir. 2008), vacated, 578 F.3d 293 (5th Cir. 2009) (en banc), rev'd, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011)
38. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1374-76, 1376 n.10 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting).
39. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1376.
40. Ken Armstrong & Maurice Possley, The Verdict: Dishonor, CHI. TRIB., Jan. 10, 1999, at C1 [hereinafter Armstrong & Possley, The Verdict]
41. Robert P. Mosteller, Failures of the Prosecutor's Duty to "Do Justice" in Extraordinary and Ordinary Miscarriages of Justice, in THE PROSECUTOR IN TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE (Erik Luna & Marianne Wade eds.) (forthcoming 2011) (manuscript at 13)
42. Ken Armstrong & Maurice Possley, Trial & Error: How Prosecutors Sacrifice Justice to Win (pts. 1-5), CHI. TRIB., Jan. 10-14, 1999, at C1 [hereinafter Armstrong & Possley, Trial & Error].
43. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011) (No. 09-571), 2010 WL 3198842, at 25-28.
44. Armstrong & Possley, The Verdict, supra note 58, at C1.
45. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1382 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting)
46. Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995)
47. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011) (No. 09-571), 2010 WL 3232485, at 25
48. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1360 (majority opinion).
49. R.C. PHILLIPS, SAN DIEGO CNTY. SHERIFF'S DEP'T, BRADY TRAINING BULLETIN, available at http://www.sdsheriff.net/legalupdates/docs/bradytrainingbulletin. pdf
50. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1375 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting).
51. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 395 (1989) (O'Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part)).
52. Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995)
53. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011) (No. 09-571), 2010 WL 3167311, at 9
54. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1355 (majority opinion).
55. Thompson v. Connick, 553 F.3d 836, 847 (5th Cir. 2008), vacated, 578 F.3d 293 (5th Cir. 2009) (en banc), rev'd, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011).
56. Thompson, 553 F.3d at 851.
57. Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378, 390 (1989) ("Only where a failure to train reflects a 'deliberate' or 'conscious' choice by a municipality-a 'policy' as defined by our prior cases-can a city be liable for such a failure under § 1983.").
58. John Donne, Meditation 17, in SERMONS ON THE PSALMS AND GOSPELS 243 (Evelyn M. Simpson, ed. 1963) ("No man is an island entire of itself.").
59. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350, 1363 (2011).
60. Daniel S. Medwed, Emotionally Charged: The Prosecutorial Charging Decision and the Innocence Revolution, 31 CARDOZO L. REV. 2187, 2187 (2010)
61. Margaret Z. Johns, Reconsidering Absolute Prosecutorial Immunity, 2005 BYU L. REV. 53, 59-64
62. Fred C. Zacharias, The Professional Discipline of Prosecutors, 79 N.C. L. REV. 721 (2001)
63. Susan Bandes, The Negative Constitution: A Critique, 88 MICH. L. REV. 2271 (1990) (critiquing use of action/inaction distinction in determining governmental accountability).
64. GERD GIGERENZER, GUT FEELINGS: The INTELLIGENCE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS 197-98 (2007).
65. Susan A. Bandes, Is It Immoral to Punish the Heedless and Clueless? A Comment on Alexander, Ferzan and Morse: Crime and Culpability, 29 L. & PHIL. 433, 446 (2010).
66. Susan A. Bandes, Loyalty to One's Convictions: The Prosecutor and Tunnel Vision, 49 HOW. L.J. 475, 490-92 (2006)
67. Max H. Bazerman & Ann E. Tenbrunsel, Op-Ed., Stumbling Into Bad Behavior, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 21, 2011, at A27
68. Fred C. Zacharias, Structuring the Ethics of Prosecutorial Trial Practice: Can Prosecutors Do Justice?, 44 VAND. L. REV. 45, 46 (1991).
69. Daniel S. Medwed, The Prosecutor as Minister of Justice: Preaching to the Unconverted from the Post-Conviction Pulpit, 84 WASH. L. REV. 35, 44 (2009).
70. Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. 135, 143 (2009)
71. United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 916-17 (1984)
72. SUSAN A. BANDES, AM. CONSTITUTION SOC'Y FOR LAW & POLICY, THE ROBERTS COURT AND THE FUTURE OF THE EXCLUSIONARY RULE (2009), available at http://www.acslaw.org/files/Bandes%20Issue%20Brief.pdf.
73. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350, 1368 (2011) (Scalia, J., concurring).
74. Tony Mauro, Stevens Criticizes Ruling on Prosecutorial Immunity, BLOG OF LEGAL TIMES (May 3, 2011, 4:14 PM), http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2011/05/ stevens-criticizes-ruling-on-prosecutorial-immunity.html
75. Robert P. Mosteller, Exculpatory Evidence, Ethics, and the Road to the Disbarment of Mike Nifong: The Critical Importance of Full Open-File Discovery, 15 GEO. MASON L. REV. 257, 309-11 (2008)
76. Alafair S. Burke, Improving Prosecutorial Decision Making: Some Lessons of Cognitive Science, 47 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1587 (2006)
77. Barbara O'Brien, A Recipe for Bias: An Empirical Look at the Interplay Between Institutional Incentives and Bounded Rationality in Prosecutorial Decision Making, 74 MO. L. REV. 999 (2009).
78. Keith A. Findley & Michael S. Scott, The Multiple Dimensions of Tunnel Vision in Criminal Cases, 2006 WIS. L. REV. 291, 295
79. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350 (2011) (No. 09-571), 2010 WL 3251771, at 11.
80. Susan A. Bandes, Framing Wrongful Convictions, 2008 UTAH L. REV. 5, 21-22
81. Scott E. Sundby, Fallen Superheroes and Constitutional Mirages: The Tale of Brady v. Maryland, 33 MCGEORGE L. REV. 643, 659-60 (2002).
82. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350, 1363 (2011).
83. Connick, 131 S. Ct. at 1382 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting) (asserting that nobody had ever been disciplined by Connick for a Brady violation).
84. 445 U.S. 622 (1980).
85. CONG. GLOBE, 42ND CONG., 1ST SESS. 68 (1871).
86. Adickes v. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 190 (1970) (Brennan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).
87. 365 U.S. 167 (1961).
88. City of Oklahoma City v. Tuttle, 471 U.S. 808, 834-41 (1985) (Stevens, J., dissenting)
89. Donald L. Doernberg, Taking Supremacy Seriously: The Contrariety of Official Immunities, 80 FORDHAM L. REV. 443 (2011)
90. Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350, 1363 (2011) (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted).
91. Susan Bandes, Monell, Parratt, Daniels and Davidson: Distinguishing a Custom or Policy from a Random, Unauthorized Act, 72 IOWA L. REV. 101, 155 & n.399 (1987)
92. 485 U.S. 112, 131 (1988) (plurality opinion).
93. Owen v. City of Independence, 445 U.S. 622, 652 (1980).
94. "Brady mistakes are inevitable. So are all species of error routinely confronted by prosecutors. . . . [T]he District Court's instructions cover every recurring situation in which citizens' rights can be violated." Connick v. Thompson, 131 S. Ct. 1350, 1367 (2011) (Scalia, J., concurring).