New Ethics and Civil Liability Guidebook

by Ronald H. Clark, Senior Training Consultant

The coming bicentennial of Lewis and Clark’s expedition of discovery provides an irresistible analogy. In 1803, the explorers set out on the three-year historic journey. Their purposes were pure, but the wilderness was perilous, threatening with everything from grizzly bears to the snowdrifts of the Lolo Pass and precipices of the trail.

Today’s prosecutors face ethical and civil liability perils along the trail to justice that endanger not only hard-won convictions but also the prosecutor’s bar license, wallet and reputation. However, unlike Lewis and Clark who had to map the terrain, travel uncharted land and encounter unforeseen risks, prosecutors can benefit from the college’s newly published guidebook, entitled Doing Justice: A Prosecutor’s Guide to Ethics and Civil Liability.

Doing Justice is a comprehensive book designed to guide prosecutors away from ethics and civil liability dangers and to aid in the search for justice. Well-traveled and highly regarded prosecutors and criminal justice participants who know the hazards and can offer practical advice wrote the chapters. The chapters and authors are:

• Preface—William Murphy, District Attorney, Richmond County, New York
  
  
• A Respected and Effective Prosecutor—Roderick Leonard, Deputy-In-Charge, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
  
  
• Ethics 2000—What’s It Got To Do With Us?—Mary Galvin, State’s Attorney for the Ansonia/Milford Judicial District, Milford, Connecticut
  
  
• Media Relations—Paul A. Logli, State’s Attorney, Winnebago County, Rockford, Illinois
  
  
• Discovery Danger Zone: The Brady Rule—L. Douglas Pipes, Senior Deputy District Attorney, Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, Martinez, California
  
  
• Pretrial Dilemmas—Mark Cohen, Assistant Director and Chief Counsel for the Office of Public Security, New York, New York
  
  
• RPC 4.2: The No-Contact Rule—Barbara Corey-Boulet, Assistant Chief Criminal Deputy and Chief of the Felony Division, Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Tacoma, Washington
  
  
• Communication with Witnesses, the Court and Jurors —Robert N. Kepple, Executive Director of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association
  
  
• The Trial Prosecutor and Ethics—Jean G. Sturtridge, Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, St. Clair County, Port Huron, Michigan
  
  
• Ethics in Cross-Examination—Al M. Dominguez, District Attorney, 19th Judicial District, Greeley, Colorado
  
  
• Safe and Sound Jury Argument—Amie L. Clifford, Assistant Director, National College of District Attorneys
  
  
• Appellate Advocacy: Ethical Issues for Prosecutors on Appeal—Justice Paul H. Anderson, Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
  
  
• Responding to Charges of Prosecutorial Misconduct—Nola Foulston, District Attorney, Sedgwick County, Wichita, Kansas and James E. Puntch, Jr., Assistant District Attorney, Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, Wichita, Kansas
  
  
• Conflicts: Prosecutor as a Witness, Employment, Gratuities and Outside Activities—James Dickinson, Deputy County Prosecutor, Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, Boise, Idaho
  
  
• Prosecutorial Liability and Immunity Pitfalls—Mary Galvin, State’s Attorney for the Ansonia/Milford Judicial District, Milford, Connecticut
  
  
• Prosecutor’s Ethics Strategies—Brian E. Michaels, Deputy District Attorney and the Professional Responsibility Advisor, San Diego County District Attorney’s Office and Wendy L. Patrick, San Diego County Deputy District Attorney
  
  
• Ethics: Perception and Reality—Joshua Marquis, District Attorney, Astoria, Oregon
  

For the experienced prosecutor who is familiar with the risks of the journey, this new publication serves as a refresher and provides insights into recent changes in both ethics rules and civil liability. Notably, the book examines new proposed revisions to the ABA Model Rules that were adopted at the February 2002 meeting of the ABA and are of interest to prosecutors, particularly because the commission that promulgated the proposals has as a mission the uniform adoption of the rules throughout the country. For the less well-traveled prosecutor, Doing Justice is an essential guidebook to protect the prosecutor from overturned convictions, disciplinary sanctions and a damaged or ruined reputation during the trip.

September 19, 1805, Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal: “The road was excessively dangerous along this creek … on the side of steep precipice, form which in many places if ether man or horse were precipitated they would inevitably be dashed to pieces.” The authors of Doing Justice, although not warning of physical risks, offer practical guidance to safeguard prosecutors from the hazards of the trail.

If you are interested in acquiring the book, either call NCDA at (803) 544-5005 or visit the college Web site at www.law.sc.edu/ncda/.