Legal Ethics
Prosecutor Tells Newspaper He Tried to Help Defense Win Doubtful Case
Posted Jun 23, 2008 8:06 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A New York prosecutor who says he was directed to defend a murder prosecution despite his reservations admits that he did his best to help the defense win the case.
Daniel Bibb, who worked under District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, told the New York Times he discussed strategy with defense lawyers and prepared witnesses to testify for the defense.
“I did the best I could,” Bibb told the newspaper. “To lose.”
The two defendants, Olmedo Hidalgo and David Lemus, are now free. The prosecutor’s office finally sought dismissal of charges, with success, against one, Hidalgo, after the six-week hearing that Bibb says he threw to the defense. The other, Lemus, was acquitted in a retrial. They had originally been convicted in the shooting death of a bouncer outside the Palladium nightclub.
Bibb is now a private defense lawyer. Morgenthau’s office wouldn’t comment on Bibb’s claims, but chief assistant district attorney Daniel Castleman told the newspaper that the office does not require prosecutors to proceed against defendants they believe to be innocent.
One legal ethics expert, Stephen Gillers, says Bibb should have withdrawn from the case or quit. “His conscience does not entitle him to subvert his client’s case,” Gillers told the Times.
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Comments
Pity the Fool
Jun 23, 2008 12:19 PM CST
If the above represents the quality of the commentary to be expected from Prof. Gillers, maybe the news outlets should find another source when legal ethics issues arise. Bibb’s client was the People of the State of New York. It was not his bureau chief, the head of the trial division, or the DA. To serve his client properly, he had an ethical obligation to do justice. He knew the defendants were not guilty. His superiors told him to try the case anyway. He did, and he sought to obtain a just result. Bibb is the Prosecutorial Man of the Year. His know-nothing supervisors should be investigated and disciplined, where appropriate. This is a classic example of management charging a subordinate with dirty work that the manager herself wouldn’t have done in a hundred years. Bibb avoided the moral culpabililty of convicting innocent men of capital crimes by taking the action he did. Had he resigned, the chief of the trial division would have assigned the case to someone else, with instructions to try the case. The chance for conviction would have risen had he left, and that wasn’t a chance worth taking. Thiis management practice at DANY is highly disturbing not only to DANY alumni but to current staff, the legal community, and the public at large. Thanks to Dan Bibb, who is more of a prosecutor and public servant than Nancy Ryan was on her finest day.
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