Protect Yourself From Police Mistakes and Deliberate Errors
Police officers make mistakes sometimes - after all, they are human. But big problems arise when those "mistakes" occur on purpose - when police officers decide to refrain from doing their jobs properly.
Georgetown County, South Carolina, is no exception to these problems. A police chief and a police investigator were recently accused of perjury, witness intimidation, bribery, obstruction of justice and criminal conspiracy. These are all very serious charges, especially when the defendants are peace officers who are trusted to "protect and serve" the people.
The two officers became involved in a case involving the murder of Joey Pope, in which the wife and cousin of the deceased were criminal defendants. The officers came under fire for several things done improperly as alleged in the petition filed against them.
For example, the officers allegedly knew certain facts that they did not act upon. It is important that police officers make sure that only the right people are accused of crimes. Anytime police officers or prosecutors discover information that may show that a criminal defendant is not guilty of a crime, they are obligated to provide that information to the defense. It is only fair to the accused and the Constitution requires it.
In this case, the officers did not provide information about cars not belonging to the defendants that were parked at the crime scene. Also, the police officers were made aware that the man killed was involved with local drug dealers, who are often a source of information about homicides and, sometimes, the location of the killer. This information was not given to the defense.
The police officers also brought forward stories from convicted felons alleging evidence that the wife and the cousin, not drug dealers, were the killers. But the police officers did not make it clear that lie detector tests showed the felons' stories were "deceptive."
The police officers, knowing of the "deceptive" results, even made deals with the felons, promising benefits like relocation to prisons where the felons could visit with their families, in exchange for their stories. The police officers tried to hide this deal-making.
The fairness of the criminal justice system relies on the notion that any person is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. If the jury is not given all relevant information, its members may mistakenly believe that an innocent person is guilty. Police misconduct can threaten our entire criminal justice system and the integrity of law enforcement.
We trust police officers to investigate cases that may go to court against criminal defendants. When police officers fail to submit evidence of possible innocence or deliberately make misstatements to ensure a guilty verdict, criminal defendants can wrongfully lose their freedom and dignity. Someone needs to ensure that this does not happen.
Criminal defense attorneys are often in the best position to protect criminal defendants from police misconduct. Although prosecutors should never pursue cases that they know to be based on false information, criminal defense lawyers are often the people who find out about police misconduct. This is because criminal defense lawyers often conduct independent examinations of the police work used in a case. This means that police misconduct can be part of a defense strategy in certain cases.
Anyone, in South Carolina or elsewhere, can benefit from having a criminal defense attorney who knows how to identify police misconduct and build a strong defense.
