Posted by
Temlakos on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 3:28:43 PM
That's right. Read the story
here, and also see the basis for the mistrial
here and
here. The grounds for mistrial are these:
- The prosecutors had a documented prior statement of a witness, and under the Jencks Act, the defense needed to have a copy before they cross-examined that witness.
- The document itself is exculpatory of the defendant, and for that reason the defense ought to have had it according to the Supreme Court decision in Brady v. Maryland.
First prize, of course, is that those agents be set free and that drug smuggler be captured next time.