Editing Prosecutorial misconduct (section)

==Examples and remedies==
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In late 1993, the [[6th US Circuit Court of Appeals]] ruled that [[John Demjanjuk]] had been a victim of prosecutorial misconduct during a 1986 trial in which [[United States federal government|federal]] prosecutors withheld evidence. Demjanjuk's [[Sentence (law)|sentence]] was overturned, but he lost when his case was retried.  See ''[[Brady v Maryland]]''.

In the 1995 [[O. J. Simpson murder case|murder trial]] of [[O. J. Simpson]], the defense argued that [[Los Angeles Police Department]] [[detective]] [[Mark Fuhrman]] had planted [[evidence (law)|evidence]] at the [[crime scene]]. Although Fuhrman denied the allegations, Simpson was found [[acquittal|not guilty]], although he was later held liable for the deaths in a civil suit filed by the families of the victims. In ''[[USA Today]]'' (August 24, 1995), [[Francis Fukuyama]] stated, "[Such defenses lead to] a distrust of [[government]] and the belief that public authorities are in a vast [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] to violate the [[rights]] of individuals." However, such misconduct may actually be widespread in the United States. "It’s a result-oriented process today, fairness be damned," [[Robert Merkle]], former [[U.S. Attorney]] for the [[United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida|Middle District of Florida]], said.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/win/day1_1a.asp| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/19991128111027/http://post-gazette.com/win/day1_1a.asp| archive-date = 1999-11-28| title = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Win at all costs - Out of control}}</ref> Prosecutors are protected from [[civil liability]] even when they knowingly and maliciously break the law in order to secure convictions, and the doctrine of [[harmless error]] can be used by appellate courts to uphold convictions despite such illegal tactics, which some argue gives prosecutors few incentives to comply with the law.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/12/Opinion/Policing_prosecutors.shtml|title=Opinion: Policing prosecutors|date=12 July 2003|newspaper=St. Petersburg Times}}</ref>

In 2011 a Texas man, [[Michael Morton (criminal justice)|Michael Morton]] was released from prison after serving nearly 25 years for the murder of his wife in 1987. He was released after DNA evidence pointed to another man as the killer.<ref name="morton_murder">{{cite web|last1=Lindell|first1=Chuck|title=Judge finds that Anderson hid evidence in Morton murder trial|url=http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/ken-anderson-court-of-inquiry-resumes/nXRLm/|website=Austin Statesman|publisher=Cox Media Group|access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref> The prosecutor, [[Ken Anderson (Texas prosecutor)|Ken Anderson]] later pleaded guilty to withholding evidence that could have helped Morton fight the murder charge. He was sentenced to spend 10 days in jail and was also disbarred.<ref name="tx_monthly">{{cite web|last1=Colloff|first1=Pamela|title=Jail Time May Be the Least of Ken Anderson's Problems|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/jail-time-may-be-least-ken-anderson%E2%80%99s-problems|website=Texas Monthly|access-date=22 July 2014}}</ref>

Despite such, the defense has been successful in roughly 1 out of 6 times it has been used from 1970 to 2003.  During that period, judges have cited misconduct by prosecutors as a reason to dismiss charges, reverse convictions, or reduce sentences in 2,012 cases, according to a study by the [[Center for Public Integrity]] released in 2003; the researchers looked at 11,452 cases in which misconduct was alleged.<ref>{{cite web |title= Breaking the Rules | date = 26 June 2003 | url = http://www.publicintegrity.org/2003/06/26/5517/breaking-rules | access-date = October 18, 2012}}</ref>

A debate persists over the meaning of the term. Prosecutors have asked judges to stop using the term to refer to an unintentional error, and to restrict its use to describe a breach of professional ethics.  [[E. Norman Veasey]], the chief justice of [[Delaware Supreme Court]], answered one such request in 2003 by noting the term's extensive use in rulings over the past 60 years. "We believe it would be confusing to change the terminology in view of this history," he wrote in reply.