Prosecutorial misconduct: a feature in death penalty trials

The Death Penalty Information (DPI) Center has published a recent article which outlines how the single most common outcome for a death sentence is for it to be reversed on appeal due to a constitutional violation.

 The DPI has reported how a recent analysis of 14 people sentenced death, four or more times for the same crime have found that prosecutorial misconduct including racial bias has contributed to the high number of reversals.

Curtis Flowers’ case is a well-known example of prosecutorial misconduct. Mr Flowers was tried six times by the same prosecutor and sentenced to death four times, however, was exonerated after the U.S Supreme Court overturned his final death sentence in 2019 and the state of Mississippi subsequently dropped all charges. 

The Court ultimately granted Mr Flowers relief based on overwhelming evidence of racial discrimination. Across all six trials, the prosecutor used 41 of 42 peremptory strikes to exclude Black potential jurors. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the State’s relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals strongly suggests that the State wanted to try Mr Flowers before a jury with as few black jurors as possible, and ideally before an all- white jury.

Through the DPI’s research, the Center has identified over 600 instances where the courts have overturned death sentences or convictions due to prosecutorial misconduct which may involve racial discrimination against jurors, withholding evidence from the defence that points to innocence, or knowingly allowing witnesses to lie on the stand. These findings suggest that prosecutorial misconduct may be a feature of death penalty trials.

You can read the DPI’s article here