Under the United States Constitution, prosecutors have an obligation to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence — whether it is evidence that is directly favorable to the accused and unfavorable to the government’s case, or evidence that undermines the credibility of the government’s witnesses.

But, as our kind host frequently discusses, there’s a broad gulf between what should happen and what does happen in the criminal justice system. Prosecutors withhold exculpatory evidence all the time, usually without consequence.

Given human nature, the cultural pressures of law enforcement, and the lack of supervision in some prosecutorial agencies, such behavior by “rogue prosecutors” probably doesn’t surprise readers of The Agitator. What might surprise you is that the suppression of exculpatory evidence is sometimes systematic and based on written policy from the highest levels of local government.

Last week the ACLU of Southern California and the firm Bird Marella filed suit seeking to prohibit the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office from enforcing its “Special Directive 10-06,” a policy memo dictating how the office’s hundreds of prosecutors are to treat exculpatory evidence in the tens of thousands of cases the prosecute. You can read it at the ACLU site or here.

The suit alleges that far from assuring compliance with constitutional obligations, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office policy, if followed, violates those obligations. In fact, it purports to require that line prosecutors violate the constitution. For instance:

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SOAP LAKE, Wash. -

Six missing bags of marijuana plants, guns and ammo in evidence lockers without case numbers — these are just a few of the problems highlighted in a report on the Soap Lake Police Department.

An outside investigation by the Moses Lake Police Department and two other agencies found that Soap Lake police officers didn’t receive required training.

On top of that, evidence was improperly logged or placed in different insecure areas.

In one case, a rape kit was found in a refrigerator next to the police chief’s lunch.

[…]

The report also said there were significant problems with the department’s hiring process.

The report highlights a broken system for logging criminal evidence. It also cited mishandled drugs. Case in point: An officer who took home seized marijuana only to report his dog ate the drugs.

Another audit found DNA evidence stuck to the inside of former Chief Jim Dorris’ refrigerator. The report also points out that training hours were falsified.

Gravelle says the chief said he didn’t have the money to pay his officers to train.

[…]

“Ultimately the council voted unanimously in favor of rebuilding Soap Lake’s police department. So that’s my mission now,” said Gravelle.

The police chief and one other officer have stepped down; former chief Dorris is said to be on the East Coast recovering from a serious medical condition.

A former reporter is suing the city of Albuquerque, N. M., and a police officer for allegedly deleting evidence of police brutality and tampering with evidence during a story she was covering.

Cristina Rodda, a former anchor and reporter for the Albuquerque NBC affiliate station KOB, is suing Officer Stephanie Lopez of the Albuquerque Police Department.  In her federal court filing this week she cited violation of the first, fourth and fourteenth amendments, intentionally spoiling evidence, violation of the New Mexico Tort Claims Act against Lopez.  She also cited negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention against the city.

“We just filed this week so the city will have 20 days to answer the lawsuit,” B.J. Crow, Cristina’s attorney told ABC News.com.

On April 29, 2011 the reporter was sent by KOB to Tumbleweeds night club in Albuquerque, following a tip about a “rave” party where underage people were allegedly allowed, according to the lawsuit.

Rodda was filming the entrance of the club from the parking lot, when Officer Lopez allegedly pushed a young patron to the ground while working crowd control for the police department.  Lopez has reportedly been disciplined for similar conduct in the past.

Rodda was soon asked to leave by a club employee and two officers, including Lopez, who demanded the camera tape, which Rodda refused and tried to leave.

Lopez frisked and searched Rodda’s purse without consent, later admitting Rodda was compliant throughout the whole process, according to the suit.  The officer took the camera.

When the tape was returned to the station the clip of the patron being thrown to the ground was gone.  Lopez later admitted she took the camera home, viewed the tape and did not tag the camera into evidence with the police department.

“She didn’t have any business taking that tape,” said Crow.  He said the tape was sent to an expert, who was able to retrieve the clip and determine the clip was deleted while Lopez had the camera.

“We have proof that she deleted the clip,” said Crow.  “It’s a pretty egregious case; I think the officer almost committed a crime by tampering with evidence. Because she’s an officer she could get away with it, I think if she was a regular citizen a criminal complaint could’ve been filed.”

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Mater was placed on administrative leave in June and later quit. He was not found criminally responsible in the death.

Fullerton police made headlines last year when some officers were accused of excessive force in the arrest of a mentally ill man who died from his injuries.