Mass. Top Court Orders Disclosure of Cop Misconduct Documents

In 2020, federal investigators found that Springfield, Mass. cops were routinely using excessive force and then lying and withholding exculpatory evidence not only to cover it up, but also to obtain convictions against the very victims of their violence. Even so, the district attorney's office has continued to withhold from criminal defendants (past and future) that officers involved in their cases were implicated in these abuses. Unanimous Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Prosecutors have an "inescapable constitutional dut[y]" to investigate and disclose such info. Remanded for case-by-case adjudications. “To remedy the troubling practices identified by the DOJ, which affect the proper administration of justice in Hampden County, we determine that the district attorney’s office, through certain discovery policies, committed a breach of both the duty of the district attorney’s office to disclose evidence that tends to exculpate defendants and the duty of the district attorney’s office to investigate or inquire about such evidence,”