ABA Journal - Law News Now

Midyear Meeting 2008

Righting Wrongs

Posted Apr 1, 2008, 03:57 pm CDT
By James Podgers

The amendments to Model Rule 3.8 were approved in a voice vote by the ABA House of Dele­gates in Feb­ruary during the association’s 2008 midyear meeting in Los Angeles. There was no debate on the recommendation by the Criminal Justice Section and 10 co-sponsors.

“The rules are very simple,” said Stephen A. Saltz­burg, a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who chairs the Criminal Justice Section. “If prosecutors have new, credible evidence of innocence, they have to do something about it. It’s not a big burden.”

Saltzburg, who introduced the amendments in the House, acknowledged that they initially aroused concerns among prosecutors and the U.S. Department of Justice. But active opposition in the House failed to materialize… Continue reading...

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