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Comment by pixl97 | Hacker News Reader

I mean looking a prosecutors to be moral people is your first mistake.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-texas-prosecutor-fir...

>A former Texas district attorney agreed Friday to serve 10 days in jail for withholding evidence that could have stopped an innocent man from going to prison for nearly 25 years — apparently the first time a prosecutor has been sent to jail for concealing evidence helpful to the defense.

I would say if this actually the case and the prosecutor was forging documents the following is true.

1. This isn't his/her first time.

2. It wasn't their original idea and there is a history of this behavior in this area that needs investigated.

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>> A former Texas district attorney agreed Friday to serve 10 days in jail for withholding evidence that could have stopped an innocent man from going to prison for nearly 25 years

10 days is nothing. Why not give the prosecutor 25 years in prison? After all, that is how many years the innocent man was sent to prison for.

ABA states:

Standard 3-1.2 Functions and Duties of the Prosecutor

>(b) The primary duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice within the bounds of the law, not merely to convict. The prosecutor serves the public interest and should act with integrity and balanced judgment to increase public safety both by pursuing appropriate criminal charges of appropriate severity, and by exercising discretion to not pursue criminal charges in appropriate circumstances. The prosecutor should seek to protect the innocent and convict the guilty, consider the interests of victims and witnesses, and respect the constitutional and legal rights of all persons, including suspects and defendants.

I get that everyone laughs at normative standards nowadays, and the concept of 'civic duty' is apparently dying out, but there's your standard right there. If you're forging warrants, you are abdicating the responsibilities of your station.

> If you're forging warrants, you are abdicating the responsibilities of your station.

Those are strong words, and I fully agree with them.

Prosecutors enjoy a nearly unqualified immunity, so long as they are doing their job they cannot be sued in civil court. However, forging documents is abjectly NOT part of a prosecutors jobs, mainly because it's illegal, but also highly immoral and unethical irrespective of law... in violation of Federal rules of procedure.

And you might even get 10 days in jail for it!

In the meantime you'll get reelected again and again for being 'tough on crime'.

The incentives are misaligned for an optimal outcome.

So one prosecutor acted unethically one time, and that is your evidence that "looking [at] prosecutors to be moral people is [a] mistake"?

Come on. First, that's literally one person out of thousands. Second, your example is a single state court prosecutor. The U.S. Attorney's office has extremely high ethical standards.

I'm sure that in the days before cameras everywhere you'd be stating to the first instance of recorded police abuse "That's literally one cop out of thousands, second this is just one police department". But it turns out as more cameras have shown up, and as more people look we seem to find more and more cases. I guess the cameras cause cops to abuse people.

So one instance is sufficient to condemn an entire profession? What profession is ethical in your view?

Judges seem to be pretty ethical all things considered.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna30210

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