"Ethics concerns in Pinal death-penalty cases," is by Sean Holstege for the Arizona Republic. Here's the beginning:
When a judge declared a mistrial in a Pinal County murder case last week due to the actions of county prosecutors, it marked the third time in a month that ethics concerns were raised about the handling of death-penalty murder cases by the Pinal County Attorney's Office.
Superior Court Judge Boyd Johnson declared a mistrial after learning that prosecutors misled him by secretly interviewing, without an attorney present, a defense witness who was facing charges in another case.
The miscued murder case came days after the State Bar of Arizona opened an inquiry into how and why Pinal County prosecutors ignored a court order by viewing sealed documents in another death-penalty case.
And aday after the mistrial, prosecutors disclosed that a paralegal in the office "inadvertently" accessed off-limits documents in a third death-penalty case.
Court officials and representatives of the County Attorney's Office blame the misstepson a flawed case-management system, inadequate training and misguided judges.
Related posts are in the prosecutorial misconduct category index.
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