Six months ago, Asim Martinez's 2012 murder conviction was vacated due to prosecutorial misconduct by Staten Island Assistant District Attorney Kyle Reeves.
Now, the DA's office is trying Martinez again for the same exact crime. And guess who's lead prosecutor on the case?
In May, a panel of judges from the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled that Reeves had "improperly accused a key defense witness of lying on the stand in previous cases." From the New York Law Journal:
At trial, Martinez presented a defense of extreme emotional disturbance, but the panel wrote that he was "unfairly deprived" of presenting the defense because a prosecutor said during voir dire and cross-examination that his expert witness had lied in this case and others.
"In addition, the prosecutor presented himself as an unsworn witness at the trial, suggesting that he had been present at the trial of another case at which the defendant's expert had lied," the justices wrote.
NBC also
reported this week that "[a]ccording to court papers filed by the Staten Island district attorney's office, Reeves called the witness a 'whore' and a 'hired gun' paid to lie."
It is a significant professional failure for a prosecutor to receive unanimous criticism from a panel of state appellate court judges. It's also expensive and time-consuming to have to retry a case. In some places, Reeves's actions would result in professional consequences.
But not in Staten Island. Reeves is not only still prosecuting, he's prosecuting the exact same man for the exact same crime.
It's not Reeves's first misconduct accusation, nor is it the first time he's retried a case that was thrown out due to his misconduct. See more below.
NBC reports:
Eight years ago, while working for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, Reeves prosecuted Malik White on manslaughter charges. White had gotten into a basketball court fist fight with a rival player. That player later died in the hospital. Reeves pursued the manslaughter case against White despite informing the court on the eve of the trial about a medical malpractice suit in which the victim’s mother blamed doctors -- not White -- for her son’s death. […]
The judge declared a mistrial. Reeves brought the case to a new trial and White was acquitted of all charges.
Malik White is now suing Reeves and the city. He believes that Reeves prosecuted him even though he knew he was innocent and that Reeves "knowingly concealed" the malpractice suit.
Allowing a prosecutor to try a case again after exhibiting serious misconduct the first time is a policy that is unfair to the defendant, and not only because it adds an additional layer of animosity between the defendant and the state. The policy is also bad for the prosecutor's office.
The Staten Island DA seems to disagree. "Mr. Reeves continues to prosecute the Martinez case because of his intimate familiarity with the facts, circumstances, and evidence in this case," said a spokesman.
Assigning the same prosecutor twice despite prior misconduct may seem resource-efficient in the immediate future. But in the long term, it fails to adequately reduce negative incentives—incentives to egregiously disregard the rules of the justice system.
Re-trial ensures that the defendant still has to face judgment. The question is whether the prosecutor should also be held accountable for his misconduct.
Discuss below.