I used to manage properties for local government, one of the properties was a courthouse with 43 courtrooms. Prosecutors do this kind of stuff more often than not. If the only witness is a nine year old retarded child then there was never a case. The prosecution can get a kid to say anything especially a retarded kid. The problem is the kid said a lot of things that proved the guy Innocent but that information was withheld from the defendant. The withholding of exculpatory evidence is breaking the law. The DA should spend time in prison.
It is not the prosecutor’s job to build the defense’s case. In Discovery, the parties are supposed to disclose all relevant information concerning the case. The operative word there being “relevant.”. If a DA thought the evidence was sufficiently exculpatory to jeopardize his case, then he probably shouldn’t have prosecuted it to begin with. To withhold it violates the Canon, and can result in mistrial, loss on appeal, and censure.
The defense should have destroyed this girl’s testimony, which shouldn’t have been hard to do in view of her history.
See my tagline.