¶ … Prosecution
One of the harsh realities of the criminal justice system is the ability of defendants to defeat charges against them unless the prosecution has done its homework and prepared for the case properly. Irrespective of how thorough the criminal investigation may have been or how much evidence is available to support a criminal charge, cases can be lost at trial when prosecutors fail to properly prepare for its adjudication. In order to gain some fresh insights in this area, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to describe the identify the evidentiary stages in the criminal justice process including the discovery process, applicable case law, the defense tactic of impeachment and general expectations for court and applicable rules to describe how officers can best prepare for trial. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.
Review and Discussion
The Discovery Process
Simply stated, the discovery process allows each party to a case to gain access to information that may be of use in prosecuting or defending a case. For instance, according to Black's Law Dictionary (1991), discovery is generally "the ascertainment of that which was previously unknown" but specifically "the pre-trial devices that can be used by one party to obtain facts and information...
Both, 73 N.W. 2d 103, 106)" (p. 466). For this purpose, subpoenas duces tecum can be used to acquire documentary evidence and so-called "John Doe" subpoenas "allow plaintiffs to discover the identity of anonymous online speakers from their ISP or from websites they visited. Without a successful John Doe subpoena, a target of anonymous online speech has no way to uncover his or her attackers and no legal remedy" (McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n, 514 U.S. 334, 343, 1995)" (Gleicher, 2008, p. 320).
Defense Tactic of Impeachment
One of the more common tactics used by defense attorneys is the impeachment of prosecution witnesses. According to Black's Law Dictionary (1991), the impeachment of a witness is "to call into question the veracity of a witness, by means of evidence adduced for such purpose, or the adducing of proof that a witness is unworthy of belief. (McWethy v. Lee, 272 N.E.2d 663, 668). It should be noted, though, that the laws concerning witness impeachment vary from state to state, but generally speaking, witnesses can be impeached for any of the following:
1. Prior inconsistent statements; or,
2. Contradiction of facts, bias, or character (Black's Law Dictionary, 1991, p. 753);
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