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CACJ is the leading organization demanding that prosecutors be held accountable for violations. In 2015 CACJ pushed for AB 672, otherwise known as Obie’s law, named for Obie Anthony who spent 17 years behind bars for a crime for which he was later exonerated. This bill, which was passed and was signed by the Governor, requires that CDCR provide transitional services, such as job training, housing assistance, and mental health services, to those wrongfully convicted.

CACJ also sponsored first-of-a-kind legislation to report prosecutors to the California State Bar for withholding evidence.

Read more from the LA Times

In the past two days, CACJ’s sponsored bill, AB 1328, on prosecutorial misconduct, received some noteworthy press from both the Orange County Register (view here) and Huffington Post (view here).

In the OC Register, one of the writers that has been closely following the Dekraai case, wrote a great piece on the bill.

Alex Kozinski, former chief judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, told The Huffington Post. "It seems to give a great deal of discretion to trial judges, so its effectiveness will depend on the degree to which those judges are willing to exercise that authority."

Erwin Chemerinski, Dean of Irvine School of Law and Constitutional Scholar, commented to the Huffpost that the law was a “good” development.

"The Constitution and professional ethics already require that prosecutors turn over exculpatory evidence," Chemerinsky said. "But violations are widespread. This provides additional sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct and hopefully an additional deterrent."

CACJ asked for the rule to follow ABA Model Rule 3.8 which has been adopted in various forms by every other state in the country. The California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) opposed the proposed rule and sent several representatives to offer testimony.

CACJ had two individuals register support for the ethical rule and signed on to a joint letter with CPDA and others.

The vote was split, but ultimately a majority of the Commission Members approved the ethical rule. The rule will next be sent to the Board at their November 20^th meeting for review, and then out for public comments for a 90-day period. The Commission also approved to expedite this rule, which will allow it to be given separate consideration by the CA Supreme Court, ahead of other rules that will be submitted by the Bar.

Former CACJ President Gerald Uelmen, Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project, and Michael Ogul of CPDA provided much of the testimony in support of the rule.

This victory continues CACJ's campaign against prosecutorial misconduct. A few weeks ago Governor Jerry Brown signed the CACJ sponsored AB 1328, which requires judges to report prosecutors who intentionally withhold evidence to the State Bar.

SACRAMENTO - The California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a statewide association of criminal defense attorneys, is disappointed with Governor Jerry Brown's decision to veto Assembly Bill 885.

AB 885, CACJ sponsored bill, would have allowed a court, at its discretion, to read a jury instruction when a prosecutor intentionally or knowingly withheld evidence that may have prove the innocence of a defendant.

In Governor Brown's veto statement, he states that "prosectuorial misconduct should never be tolerated." We agree wholeheartedly. Governor Brown also writes, "under current law, judges have an array of remedies at their disposal if discovery violation comes to light during trial."

CACJ cannot sit back and rely on the status quo. It is clear that many judges do not regularly use whatever remedies the Governor referred to and these remedies are insufficient deterrents. We know prosecutors continue to strategically withhold evidence from the defense because Brady violations persist and innocent individuals are being wrongfully imprisoned in California. Unfortunately, prosecutors face little, if any, consequences.

Prosecutorial misconduct can happen to anyone. The possibility of one more person being wrongfully convicted, such as Obie Anthony, should have tipped the scales in favor of this moderate measure. Mr. Anthony was wrongfully convicted of murder and attempted robbery in 1995. Mr. Anthony was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and spent 17 years in prison.

CACJ will continue fighting to protect the innocent and ensure justice is served.

A pending case in Santa Clara County, where the DA withheld 10,000 pages of discovery until 2 weeks before jury trial on a homicide, and also failed to disclose that he was having an affair with the lead criminalist in the case who provided the key DNA results in a "cold hit" murder, is threatening to torpedo the trial of two brothers accused of a 25-year-old "cold case" murder.

The evidence issue comes as Gov. Jerry Brown considers whether to sign Assembly Bill 885, sponsored by California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, which would allow judges to tell a jury when a prosecutor has intentionally concealed potentially helpful evidence to the defense.

"Everybody that has ever tried cases," Barry Scheck said, "knows this (prosecutorial misconduct involving withheld evidence) is a problem."

• See the rest of the article here.