CRIME LAB JUDGE REFUSES DISMISSAL.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer Defense attorneys suffered their second setback in less than a week Thursday when a judge denied a motion to dismiss more than 600 drunk-driving cases because of allegations of prosecutorial misconduct In jurisprudence, prosecutorial misconduct is a procedural defense; via which, a defendant may argue that they should not be held criminally liable for actions which may have broken the law, because the prosecution acted in an "inappropriate" or "unfair" manner. . Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren ruled that Kevin DeNoce - a former DUI prosecutor-turned-defense attorney - erred when he talked to a district attorney's investigator about the drunk-driving cases. Just two days earlier, Perren denied a separate motion that would have barred prosecutors from handling the 600 cases because of what defense attorneys claimed was a conflict of interest with the Sheriff's Department crime lab. But even with back-to-back defeats, the defense attorneys hope to prevail when they return to court Monday to argue the main issue in the DUI challenges. ``We haven't really had the opportunity to address the main issues so we're really looking forward to that,'' said Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Brian Vogel. ``The intentional violation of state law by law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). is not something that any court or the citizenry cit·i·zen·ry n. pl. cit·i·zen·ries Citizens considered as a group. citizenry Noun citizens collectively Noun 1. should take lightly and that's what we have in this case.'' At issue is whether the sheriff's crime lab engaged in unlicensed or sloppy alcohol testing between March 19 and May 23. During the past four months, the crime lab case has grown from motions challenging evidence in a handful of drunk-driving cases to a drawn-out, three-phase litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. involving more than 600 cases. On Thursday, Perren pressed forward in his bid to get this issue resolved as soon as possible. With three weeks of hearings already complete, Perren urged the attorneys to stayed focus on the issues so they don't ``plow plow or plough, agricultural implement used to cut furrows in and turn up the soil, preparing it for planting. The plow is generally considered the most important tillage tool. a lot of fields that won't be planted.'' |
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