PRBA MEMBERS EDITORIAL
NUESTRA VOZ
End Prosecutorial Peremptory Challenges
Catherine Torres and Elba Galvan
It is a well-known precept that a prosecutor's role is to search for truth and justice and ensure that a fair trial is conducted, rather than focus on "winning" the case.
As succinctly stated in Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935), a prosecutor "is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done."
A prosecutor is uniquely situated in a position of trust, someone who in effect evaluates the facts and whose presentation of the evidence carries with it the approval and endorsement of the government. As such, a prosecutor's duty is to help ensure that criminal trials are conducted fairly to encourage confidence in our system of justice.
Read more
It is a well-known precept that a prosecutor's role is to search for truth and justice and ensure that a fair trial is conducted, rather than focus on "winning" the case.
As succinctly stated in Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935), a prosecutor "is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done."
A prosecutor is uniquely situated in a position of trust, someone who in effect evaluates the facts and whose presentation of the evidence carries with it the approval and endorsement of the government. As such, a prosecutor's duty is to help ensure that criminal trials are conducted fairly to encourage confidence in our system of justice.
Read more
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