Prosecutorial Misconduct

This lesson will cover prosecutorial misconduct that undermines the fairness of a criminal defendant’s trial. Nearly a century ago, the United States Supreme Court stated that prosecutors’ first duty is to do justice. They should only seek convictions with that cardinal principle in mind. See Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935). 

The Court has addressed two main claims of prosecutorial misconduct in the decades after Berger: one about failing to...