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Brady Law in Domestic Violence
Anonymous3 views5 answers
I'm having to plead guilty to a case with evidence that shows my side of the story to be true. However, I am having to plea because i made a mistake and didn't realize it and violated an NCO, so i plead guilty to avoid felony charges. The issue is, the prosecution hasn't given my attorney the proof of the violations and claims it is still being investigated by a detective. Part of the plea deal is that those charges wont come up, could they still charge me? Is it possible to claim the Brady Defense based on this evidence (that of the prosecution not giving the defense evidence of a crime)? My attorney doesn't seem to want to help me on this and the prosecution not giving the proof of the violations has been going on for a few weeks now. Any advice?
I think you are misunderstanding Brady. Brady does not state that the prosecution has to turn over evidence of the crime to the defendant. Discovery will be governed by local statute and practice. Brady requires prosecutors to turn over evidence that supports the defendant's innocence.
I think you need to talk to your own attorney about this. That is the person who you must ask any and all questions to about your case. All we know is what you have written, and that simply isn't enough for a meaningful answer. If you are not satisfied with the services of your attorney, get another.
Brady prohibits the prosecution from withholding evidence that may tend to show you are innocent of the crime you are charged with. When you are charged with a crime, the court rule on discovery requires the prosecution to provide much broader in scope and requires that more than just Brady material be given to the defense. If you have not been charged with the violation of the no contact order, you have no right to this information. It is neither a discovery nor a Brady violation. If it's uncharged, but part of a plea bargain, it doesn't seem unreasonable to require some evidence of the NCO violation before entering the plea.
I don't believe this is a Brady issue based on what you're saying, but it may be a discovery issue. The problem is that if the crimes of NCO are not yet charged, then it may not even be a discovery issue. If crimes are charged you're entitled to evidence. If they are charging you with other crimes but not yet NCO and are agreeing to dumb the other ones if you plead to NCO, then it may be difficult to compel them to give evidence. This sometimes happens in plea bargain - drop all existing charges and replace them with uncharged crimes. That said, there still needs to be a factual basis for a plea, so ask your attorney to get at least SOME evidence of the NCOs. At the end of the day though, in evaluating whether to plead (you don't have to), you consider risk versus what you're taking. Even if you didn't commit all the original crimes, if you truly did vilolate the order, then a plea deal would make sense to avoid any possible risk of conviction on the other crimes and securing dismissal of them.
