Regarding Prosecutorial misconduct, truth be told, I did not believe any of it to be true at first. This is based upon my experience as a prosecutor and my interactions with others in my office. However, after the shenanigans that been shown to exist in PA, I understand why there is mistrust out there.
I was speaking with my supervisor yesterday, and I brought up this email. I asked him if he would write it, or ever tell a witness that. He stated that it would be unethical (that was my opinion as well). I can't even imagine what kind of trouble I would get into if I told a witness he was not free to talk...I could say whatever he said could be used to contradict him etc, but I could never tell a witness to keep his mouth shut. It is further exacerbated by the fact that he said there were untruths, and this could be interpreted very easily as a prosecutor willing to proceed on lies and suppressing the truth.
My boss then asked if all the appeals were done. I told him that they were not, but I didn't think they would be successful. My supervisor prosecuted sex crimes for a few years. When he heard that the defense attorney was denied a continuance request after only having 6 mos to prepare for that many victims over a substantial period of time, his response was that the conviction would definitely be overturned. (Of course, we practice in California, so things might be a bit different).
While I think that Sandusky is more than guilty, the prosecution of this case was shady to say the least.
