Alyosha
01-29-2015, 07:30 PM
I'm sure only 3 of us care about this, but...
http://news.yahoo.com/prominent-u-judge-quits-justice-dept-evidence-commission-192212883.html
Rakoff, nominated to the bench by U.S. President Bill Clinton, has been a frequent thorn in the side of the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, criticizing their efforts in pursuing Wall Street for financial crisis-era wrongdoing.The forensic commission was created in 2013 to help establish national standards, in response to persistent concerns from critics about the quality of evidence used to convict defendants across the country.
In October, the commission's subcommittee on reporting and testimony, co-chaired by Rakoff, recommended to the full commission that prosecutors go beyond current federal criminal rules to provide additional details about scientific expert witnesses' methodology and data to defendants.
The proposal, according to Rakoff, would impose on prosecutors essentially the same requirements that now exist in civil cases.
But the commission was not allowed to consider the merits of the report, after Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates determined its duties did not include making recommendations about changes to discovery, the process by which adversaries exchange evidence before trial, Rakoff said.
The decision, he wrote in the letter, appeared to be "designed to preserve a courtroom advantage by avoiding even the possibility that commission discussion might expose it as unfair."
http://news.yahoo.com/prominent-u-judge-quits-justice-dept-evidence-commission-192212883.html
Rakoff, nominated to the bench by U.S. President Bill Clinton, has been a frequent thorn in the side of the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, criticizing their efforts in pursuing Wall Street for financial crisis-era wrongdoing.The forensic commission was created in 2013 to help establish national standards, in response to persistent concerns from critics about the quality of evidence used to convict defendants across the country.
In October, the commission's subcommittee on reporting and testimony, co-chaired by Rakoff, recommended to the full commission that prosecutors go beyond current federal criminal rules to provide additional details about scientific expert witnesses' methodology and data to defendants.
The proposal, according to Rakoff, would impose on prosecutors essentially the same requirements that now exist in civil cases.
But the commission was not allowed to consider the merits of the report, after Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates determined its duties did not include making recommendations about changes to discovery, the process by which adversaries exchange evidence before trial, Rakoff said.
The decision, he wrote in the letter, appeared to be "designed to preserve a courtroom advantage by avoiding even the possibility that commission discussion might expose it as unfair."