Examining Kamala Harris' record as California attorney general, there is one particular incident which I believe *everyone*, regardless of political affiliation, should find incredibly disturbing.
To summarize, there was a case where a local prosecutor outright falsified evidence in order to coerce a plea bargain. The individual in question had confessed to a number of lesser offenses, but the prosecutor conspired with the police to produce a forged transcript in which the individual also "confessed" to two more serious counts which put life imprisonment on the table. Based on that falsified confession, the defense counsel recommended that his client plead guilty in a plea bargain that took life imprisonment off the table. Subsequent to the plea bargain, the defense counsel requested the original tape recordings of the confession, and only at that point did the prosecutor admit he had falsified the official transcript.
Obviously, the defense immediately made a motion to dismiss the indictment, which the prosecutor argued against by claiming that the falsified transcript was just a joke and that it had not actually harmed the defendant because defense counsel had privately admitted that the defendant's case was "not viable" anyway. Defense counsel denied making any such statement, but the defendant (understandably) lost all confidence in his representation and demanded new counsel.
Kamala Harris then stepped in as state attorney-general and personally appealed the dismissal of the indictment, conceding that the prosecutor's actions were unethical and "shocked the conscience", but arguing that unethical conduct did not actually constitute actionable prosecutorial misconduct. According to Harris, only "abject physical brutality" should qualify as prosecutorial misconduct, and nothing less should overturn a plea bargain.
As far as I am aware, this was the most egregious example but is consistent with Harris' record on government misconduct. She has indirectly addressed this in her campaign, stating that she believed it was her duty as attorney general to defend all state state actions to the hilt. While this is arguably a reasonable opinion with regard to not letting her personal politics affect her duty as a state official, I do not believe it should extend to defending unethical, illegal, and/or bad-faith actions by the state.
To summarize, there was a case where a local prosecutor outright falsified evidence in order to coerce a plea bargain. The individual in question had confessed to a number of lesser offenses, but the prosecutor conspired with the police to produce a forged transcript in which the individual also "confessed" to two more serious counts which put life imprisonment on the table. Based on that falsified confession, the defense counsel recommended that his client plead guilty in a plea bargain that took life imprisonment off the table. Subsequent to the plea bargain, the defense counsel requested the original tape recordings of the confession, and only at that point did the prosecutor admit he had falsified the official transcript.
Obviously, the defense immediately made a motion to dismiss the indictment, which the prosecutor argued against by claiming that the falsified transcript was just a joke and that it had not actually harmed the defendant because defense counsel had privately admitted that the defendant's case was "not viable" anyway. Defense counsel denied making any such statement, but the defendant (understandably) lost all confidence in his representation and demanded new counsel.
Kamala Harris then stepped in as state attorney-general and personally appealed the dismissal of the indictment, conceding that the prosecutor's actions were unethical and "shocked the conscience", but arguing that unethical conduct did not actually constitute actionable prosecutorial misconduct. According to Harris, only "abject physical brutality" should qualify as prosecutorial misconduct, and nothing less should overturn a plea bargain.
As far as I am aware, this was the most egregious example but is consistent with Harris' record on government misconduct. She has indirectly addressed this in her campaign, stating that she believed it was her duty as attorney general to defend all state state actions to the hilt. While this is arguably a reasonable opinion with regard to not letting her personal politics affect her duty as a state official, I do not believe it should extend to defending unethical, illegal, and/or bad-faith actions by the state.
