“We all have a stake in ensuring that our criminal justice system reliably separates the guilty from the innocent. Letting police get away with manufacturing confessions or planting evidence not only risks convicting the innocent but helps the guilty avoid detection and strike again.”  Kozinski (pictured below), concurring with his panel opinion.

Writing for the panel and even more in his own concurrence, Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski blisters the Phoenix police detective who interrogated the defendant, and the Arizona prosecutors and trial judge who misapprehended the constitutional requirement to provide exculpatory and impeachment evidence to the defense.    Ms. Milke was denied her constitutional right to extensive evidence of her lone interrogator’s history of lying, abuse of power, and other judicial findings of the police officer’s similar misconduct and disregard of constitutional rights.

The Ninth Circuit ordered the release of the defendant who has been incarcerated under a death sentence for 22 years and set clear procedures and time limits … Read More »