The Ethics of Prosecutorial Disclosure
30 Crim. Just. 41 (Fall 2015)
Washington University in St. Louis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 15-11-01
4 Pages Posted: 7 Nov 2015 Last revised: 11 Dec 2015
Date Written: November 5, 2015
Abstract
Do ethical disclosure rules require more of prosecutors than constitutional disclosure rules? Should they? These questions have been raised in debates about prosecutorial disclosure in recent years, with state courts reaching divergent conclusions on how they should be answered. In April of this year, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in In re Kline, 113 A.3d 202 (D.C. 2015), became the most recent court to address these questions. In this column we examine the Kline opinion, the contours of the debates that preceded it, and the division of views about the proper interpretation of Model Rule 3.8(d) and state ethics rules modeled on Rule 3.8(d).
Keywords: legal ethics, prosecutorial ethics, criminal discovery, disclosure, Brady
JEL Classification: K14, K19, K41, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation