Ethical_Misconduct

Essay-3 Ethical Misconduct The innocence project is an organization which works to free those wrongfully convicted of a crime. According to the information retrieved from the innocence project web site, Jimmy Ray Bromgard was exonerated by “postconviction DNA testing”. The release of Jimmy Ray Bromgard would not have happened had the innocence project not stepped in. They first began working his case in 2000. The DNA evidence used in his case needed to be retested. To do this the innocence project had to get the evidence released. Also, consent from the prosecutors to have the evidence retested would be needed. Consent was achieved. The evidence was retested. The test from a private laboratory showed that Jimmy Ray Bromgard did not deposit the spermatozoa found on the victim’s underwear. With this new scientific evidence, Bromgard’s conviction was overturned. On October 1st, 2002 Bromgard was exonerated. One may ask how an innocent person ends up spending 14.5 years in prison. How could this happen' The answer to both of these questions is “wrongful conviction”. It is just a fact that wrongful convictions happen. This was the case with Jimmy Ray Bromgard. Many contributing factors were involved in this wrongful conviction. The first poorly managed factor' That was Jimmy Ray Bromgard’s inadequate legal representation. This is known as incompetent lawyering. Legal representation is the backbone of our justice system. Without proper legal representation one is at a grave disadvantage to escape prosecution. The second cause of the wrongful conviction is the misidentification by the witness. This is also a reoccurring problem which needs to be addressed in our criminal justice system. The third and most damming contributing factor to this wrongful conviction is the bad forensic science evidence. In this case it was not the DNA evidence itself. It was the hair sample from the crime scene which was in question. The “expert” witness claimed statistics which were false. The hair sample from the crime scene was similar to Jimmy Ray Bromgard’s hair but there was no way to tell how many people in the world have hair also similar. The statistics were simply made-up. This leads us to first ask, was deliberate misconduct a cause of Jimmy Ray Bromgard’s wrongful conviction' One would most certainly answer yes. Jimmy Ray Bromgard’s lawyer at no time took many of the obvious and reasonable steps to establish his innocence. The eyewitness herself was only 65% sure he was the offender. The “evidence” which convicted him was inconclusive yet the so-called expert witness chose to make up statistics. The idea of a child rapist seemed to be the thought uppermost in everyone’s mind…not justice and certainly not ethical and moral practice of both law and science. There may be no 100% way to be sure everyone convicted is guilty and those set free are innocent. However with the advent of better DNA forensics the numbers of wrongly convicted can be reduced. This science must however be used properly. This is a travesty we hope to mot repeat. Legal ramifications for those whom chose to practice with deliberate misconduct must be formed and enforced. References The Innocence Project. (n.d.). Jimmy Ray Bromgard. Retrieved March 24, 2013, from http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Jimmy_Ray_Bromgard.php