Meeting Minutes: March 26, 2017

Cumberland Valley Rising

Think critically. Show up.

PO Box 1143, Carlisle, PA 17013

Meeting Minutes * March 26, 2017 * 1:00 PM * The Ribbon Mill, Carlisle, PA

Attendance: 161

Welcome by President, Katie Clark

• The Social Justice Education Committee is starting book and movie groups; sign up during coffee break.
• Regular committees will meet during the second half of this meeting.
• Our speaker this week is Professor Stephanie Jirard, of Shippensburg University and Penn State Dickinson School of Law.

Speaker Notes:

• Professor Jirard begins by reveling in the defeat of the GOP plan to replace the ACA, noting that it was the work of individuals putting a human face on healthcare that made all the difference. Putting a human face on injustices in the practice of law can have the same effect.
• The issue is a lack of balance, in that prosecutors, through “prosecutorial discretion,” wield more power than anyone else in the justice system, including defense attorneys and even judges. Prosecutors decide whether to seek the death penalty— the power of life and death.
• Three primary issues:
  • Juries 
    Any jury in a capital case must be “death qualified,” which means that each juror must agree that they are “willing to consider” the death penalty. All jurors should agree to consider the death penalty, but in reality, those who are against the death penalty end up saying, “no,” thus removing themselves from jury pools and never being seated. Juries are unfairly weighted in favor of those who are proponents of the death penalty.
  • Cellmate Testimony/Confessions 
    Prosecutors routinely over charge peripheral players in criminal cases, in order to later gain their cooperation through plea bargaining. Only the prosecutor wields this power. In effect, peripheral players and cellmates are heavily coerced into making statements that may or may not be true, and there is no requirement of auxiliary evidence to insure truthfulness. Their testimony is inherently unreliable. This issue is so egregious that Canada has discontinued the use of cellmate testimony. This type of plea bargaining can be recognized when there is a long delay in the sentencing of one person, pending their cooperative testimony in another case.
  • Withholding of Exculpatory Evidence
    A fully funded defense system is one of the highest parts of our American ideals. The law requires that exculpatory evidence that comes to the attention of the prosecutor must be shared with the defense. But the prosecutor has the power to decide what constitutes exculpatory evidence. By deciding that evidence is either unreliable or unimportant, prosecutors can and do withhold crucial information from defense attorneys.
• Prosecutors are elected. Voters have the power to take control of these issues.
   

Q & A:

• How common is this?
  90% of criminal cases are resolved through plea bargain, with waiving the right of appeal being a common requirement. Much of this is the result of Reagan’s Uniform Sentencing Act, which took away the power of judicial discretion and left power in the hands of prosecutors.
• Are there variations among states?
  Yes. These are the basics, but every jurisdiction is slightly different.
• We need to vote for DA candidates who are willing to use their powers carefully. How do we level the playing field?
  Prosecutors are successful in these tactics by dehumanizing criminals. Defense attorneys can be successful by humanizing— putting a face on their clients. We need greater diversity among prosecutors. Many African Americans and women are now running for the office of prosecutor, and are winning, especially in the South. Unfortunately, they are also getting unethical/illegal pushback, as seen in a recent case in Florida, in which the governor has taken a case away from a female, African American prosecutor because she declined to go for the death penalty.
• What about witness testimony?
  This brings up the “CSI effect.” These days, most people expect criminal cases to have witness and forensic evidence, but often there is actually very little evidence to work with.
• What can we do nationally and in PA?
  Watch for criminal justice bills. Look particularly for death penalty exemptions for those who are mentally ill, as well as juveniles or those with developmental disabilities. Abolish the death penalty in PA.
• Also support the Innocence Project.
  Yes, they need donations and volunteers to do research and interviews.

NEXT MEETING: Sunday, April 9th from 1:00 to 3:00 at the Ribbon Mill, 320 E. Louther St., Carlisle