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Flipping The Script On Brady, Ion Meyn
Flipping The Script On Brady, Ion Meyn
Indiana Law Journal
Brady v. Maryland imposes a disclosure obligation on the prosecutor and, for this
reason, is understood to burden the prosecutor. This Article asks whether Brady also
benefits the prosecutor, and if so, how and to what extent does it accomplish this?
This Article first considers Brady’s structural impact—how the case influenced
broader dynamics of litigation. Before Brady, legislative reform transformed civil
and criminal litigation by providing pretrial information to civil defendants but not
to criminal defendants. Did this disparate treatment comport with due process?
Brady arguably answered this question by brokering a compromise: in exchange for
imposing minor obligations on …
Reasonable Doubt And Relativity, Michael D. Cicchini
Reasonable Doubt And Relativity, Michael D. Cicchini
Washington and Lee Law Review
In theory, the Constitution protects us against criminal conviction unless the state can prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In reality, this lofty standard is only as strong as the words used to explain it to the jury.
Unfortunately, attempts to explain reasonable doubt often create confusion, and sometimes even diminish the burden of proof. Many courts therefore believe that the better practice is not to attempt a definition. However, empirical studies demonstrate that reasonable doubt is not self-defining, i.e., when it is not explained to the jury, it offers defendants no greater protection against conviction than the two lower, …