Archive | prosecutorial misconduct

Richard Glossip, who was sentenced to death in Oklahoma State for a 1997 murder, has been granted a new trial by the Supreme Court, Glossip v. Oklahoma, 604 U.S. –, 2025 WL 594736 (Feb. 25, 2025). The Court’s opinion recounts some of the saga of Mr. Glossip’s case.

Ten years ago, Mr. Glossip’s case first came to the Supreme Court in a failed challenge to Oklahoma’s lethal injection protocol. See Glossip v. Gross, 576 U.S. 863 (2015). In the intervening years, new revelations have cast doubt on his guilt and the reliability of evidence presented against him at trial.

The Supreme Court ultimately orders a new trial based on prosecutorial misconduct, in light of its prior ruling in Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959). In Napue, the Court held that a prosecutor’s knowing use of false evidence to obtain a conviction violates due process.…

In two summary orders issued on the same day by the same panel (Cabranes, Bianco, and Merriam), the Second Circuit considered several different claims of prosecutorial misconduct. Ultimately, neither defendant prevailed, although for different reasons. 

During the main summation and rebuttal of United States v. Saunders, No. 22-569 (2d Cir. May 3, 2023) (summary order), an 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1) felon-in-possession trial, prosecutors described the facts of the case in vivid detail that emphasized the dangers posed to the public and bystanders. Comments included: “Samuel Saunders . . . sprayed bullets into the middle of a city street”; “he barely missed other innocent bystanders”; “That’s why we’re here, because Samuel Saunders sprayed bullets into a public street and almost killed someone”; “The defendant acted with a complete disregard for human life. He could have killed multiple people that night. There were kids in the street. You saw them running for …