Prosecutor

“ The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous. He can have citizens investigated and, if he is that kind of person, he can have this done to the tune of public statements and veiled or unveiled intimations. Or the prosecutor may choose a more subtle course and simply have a citizen's friends interviewed. The prosecutor can order arrests, present cases to the grand jury in secret session, and on the basis of his one-sided presentation of the facts, can cause the citizen to be indicted and held for trial. ”

“ When the responsibilities of lawmaker, prosecutor, judge, jury and disciplinarian are thrust upon a judge he is obviously incapable of holding the scales of justice perfectly fair and true and reflecting impartially on the guilt or innocence of the accused. ”

“ At the present time the official prosecutor himself is the only person to whom one charged with a criminal offence can turn with any hope of relief from his own lawyer, and if the number of cases were known where the prosecutor has befriended the prosecuted the eyes of jurors and of the public would be opened to the real spirit which animates a fair-minded district attorney. ”

“ It is the duty of a prosecutor to see that infractions of the criminal law are punished and to represent the public in all proceedings had for that purpose, but, in view of what has just been said, it will be observed that his duties do not necessarily involve familiarity with vice, violence or even sin. ”

“ Even magistracy itself seldom looks half so glum upon a predatory marauder of this order as he does upon a night robber, a housebreaker, or a highwayman. Whenever the prosecution is brought up to the point of conviction, the prosecutor always leans to the side of mercy; and the capital is "taken off:" one never hears of a pickpocket being hung. ”

“ It is our good fortune to live under a mild Government; to live in days when there is no danger to be apprehended from the conduct of the public prosecutor; but worse times may arrive, and it is for your Lordships to reflect upon what use might then be made of the present practice if your Lordships were to allow it to be now introduced. The public prosecutor may, for example, libel upon a watch, and the Clerk of Court may show one watch in the Justiciary Office to the prisoner’s counsel or agent, and against the day of trial may produce another in Court. ”

“ I went on, "is the apparent determination of the prosecutor to convict even where there is a very wide question as to the degree of guilt."
"I don't see anything queer in that. He's human. He likes to beat the other lawyer. Why, did you know that the prosecutor you heard just now is cousin to a lord? ”

“ I am not so fortunate, it is true, as my colleague, who was the counsel for the defence on the first occasion. I have not, at any rate, succeeded in producing evidence which would compel the prosecution to drop the case,—but I have at least succeeded in showing that if the public prosecutor is correct in his statements, then my client must be a super-natural being! ”

“ The delicate scales of justice ought not to be willfully agitated from without by any of the participants responsible for the fair conduct of the trial. To be sure, a prosecutor carries a somewhat heavier responsibility in the maintenance of the standards of criminal justice than does counsel for the defense. ”

“ A layman is usually no match for the skilled prosecutor whom he confronts in the court room. He needs the aid of counsel lest he be the victim of overzealous prosecutors, of the law's complexity, or of his own ignorance or bewilderment. ”

“ The prosecutor, be he ancient Roman or Englishman of to-day, cannot gauge or control the whole effect on the offender and on society of the process which he initiates. The Judge, be he Solon or Judge of the High Court, cannot know enough of the temperament and antecedents of a prisoner to adequately apportion a sentence which he cannot see being carried out. ”

“ If the offense is one which the magistrate has not power to try, he binds the prosecutor or complainant and all material witnesses to appear and testify against the prisoner at the next court having power to indict and try him. ”

“ The district attorney objects again, and the court again frankly sustains him. The easiest way is certainly being proved the best—for him.
Nothing is developed from the other witnesses, who repeat their testimony. The prosecutor remembers distinctly having his watch, though he knew nothing of its taking.
Then the young champion puts the prisoner upon the stand. Now, if God’s pity ever descends to temper the rigor of human judgment, here is its invocation—
His story is little and simple as his counsel translates it. ”

“ The evidence being very full and clear, the jury, without going out of court, declared their opinion unanimously by the mouth of their foreman, that the prosecutor was bound in honour to make the sun shine through the criminal, or, as they afterwards explained themselves, to whip him through the lungs. ”

“ The prosecutor with a perfectly clear case may see the defendant walk out of court a free man, simply because he has neglected to acquaint himself with the various points of law which may arise in the course of the trial, and the lawyer for an accused may find his client convicted upon a charge to which he has a perfectly good legal defence, for the same reason. ”

“ It is your duty as Prosecutor to prove his evidence untrue. There is the dog: question him, if you do not believe what he says."
I thought the long-nosed lawyer would have a fit. He looked first at the dog, then at the Doctor, then at the judge, then back at the dog scowling from the witness-box. ”

“ The moment a capital crime occurs, the criminal employs the ablest counsel he can get. The relatives of the dead man, if they are important persons, retain the best lawyer they can find to assist the public prosecutor, and the game begins.
The first move is to bring the prisoner before an examining magistrate, in order to have him committed to jail to await the action of the grand jury. This examining magistrate is almost always an official that the public prosecutor can control. One was recently asked to separate the witnesses before him. ”

“ TRIAL II. JUDICATORY, JERUSALEM COUNCIL-BOARD.—Acts 23:1 to 10.
Judges, chief priests in council assembled: present, the high priests. Prosecutors, the said judge: other prosecutors, as far as appears, none. In modern Rome-bred law, this mode of procedure, in which the [Pg 410] parts of judge and prosecutor are performed by the same person, is styled the inquisitorial: in contradistinction to this, that in which the part of prosecutor is borne by a different person, is stiled the accusatorial. ”

“ However, as noted by the Court, the prosecution here explicitly and repeatedly renounced any reliance on the warrant. Like all other parties to lawsuits, a prosecutor has an obligation to the courts (including this Court) and to other parties to present its claims at the earliest appropriate time, and to create an adequate record. ”

“ Any interference by the executive in the judicial trial of a case is strongly resented; but it is open to a commissioner to set the public prosecutor in motion, or to employ special counsel to look after the effective prosecution of a difficult and important case. ”

“ INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR.—The term “independent prosecutor” means, with respect to a criminal investigation or prosecution of a law enforcement officer’s use of deadly force, a prosecutor who— (i) does not oversee or regularly rely on the law enforcement agency by which the law enforcement officer under investigation is employed ”

“ In the third place, because, while the general rule which is stated establishes the authority of the district attorney as official prosecutor, and makes it, as we have seen, coterminous with the right of the grand jury to consider, the exception subjects that authority to the exercise of a judicial discretion, which, as well illustrated by the case under consideration, destroys it. ”

“ The officer who convenes the court-martial also has final authority to determine whether charges will be brought in the first place, and to pick the board of inquiry, the prosecutor, the defense counsel, and the law officer who serves as legal adviser to the court-martial. ”

“ Crimes of whatever sort, except police offences, are as a rule subjected to preliminary examination before actual trial. When, however, the charge is perfectly clear of doubt, the procurators ask for an immediate trial in the case of minor crimes. The conducting of criminal cases, from the very beginning down to the execution of the criminal, if he be condemned to suffer death, rests with the procurator, who unites in his own person the functions of public prosecutor and of grand jury. ”

“ Should a public prosecutor find that the institution of a criminal case would not be in the interest of the public or would have an effect on the safety or security of the Nation or on an important benefit of the Country, he shall submit the matter to the Attorney General, and the Attorney General shall have the power to order that the institution of the case be withheld. ”

“ Nothing better can come out of this meeting of law enforcement officers than a rededication to the spirit of fair play and decency that should animate the federal prosecutor. Your positions are of such independence and importance that while you are being diligent, strict, and vigorous in law enforcement you can also afford to be just. Although the government technically loses its case, it has really won if justice has been done. The lawyer in public office is justified in seeking to leave behind him a good record. ”

“ The public prosecutor, as being the person entrusted with the interest of [Pg 189] the community, and as representing the community, has the primary right to take up the matter; and, having commenced proceedings for behoof of the community, he cannot be stayed or hindered, or impeded in his prosecution for punishment, by any right or any interest which any private party can claim; and he may do, and daily does, many things which exclude the private party from demanding punishment.... ”

“ The duties of the public prosecutor are to bring all accused persons to a bar of justice; and in addition he acts as the coroner does in England. Any person who is supposed to know anything about the case is interrogated by the Procurator-Fiscal, or is precognosced. The examination is made on oath; the written evidence constitutes the precognitions. ”

“ All lawyers in any way competent to handle the defense of a criminal case would, in the event of conviction, almost always get a shorter term for their clients from a jury or from the court, or even from the prosecutor, than from the parole board. ”

“ The public prosecutor and the defense counsel have the right to put pertinent questions to the witnesses and to the experts, which the judge must permit in accordance with the regulations within the framework of the code of criminal procedure. ”

“ WHEN inquiry is made about the choice of a prosecutor, and judgment is rendered on the question to which of two or more persons the prosecution of a defendant, or a share in the prosecution, is to be entrusted, this process and examination by jurors is called divinatio. ”

“ In courts-martial the judge-advocate is usually the prosecutor; but if an officer prefers a charge, he sometimes appears to sustain the prosecution. No person can appear as prosecutor not subject to the articles of war, except the judge-advocate.—Hough. ”

“ If the accused has no lawyer, the court must appoint one for him. While a man so appointed must defend the case, the best lawyers are not secured in this way. There has been considerable demand for the creation of the office of public defender for accused persons. The State employs public prosecutors, and it is argued that it should be as much interested in proving a man’s innocence as in proving his guilt. ”

“ A prosecutor should not institute, cause to be instituted, or permit the continued pendency of criminal charges in the absence of sufficient admissible evidence to support a conviction") .↑ Most of the evidence used in criminal prosecutions is compiled shortly after the offense and prior to the indictment. See id., at 11-43 ("Normally, prosecutorial investigation will have been completed prior to the filing of the accusatory instrument") ”

“ As a final basis for allowing absolute immunity for legal advice, the Court of Appeals observed that there are several checks other than civil litigation to prevent abuses of authority by prosecutors. 894 F.2d, at 956. Although we agree, we note that one of the most important checks, the judicial process, will not necessarily restrain out-of-court activities by a prosecutor that occur prior to the initiation of a prosecution, such as providing legal advice to the police. This is particularly true if a suspect is not eventually prosecuted. ”

“ In this regard, the public prosecutor shall become a senior administrative or police official and have the powers and duties according to the Criminal Procedure Code, by virtue of which he may participate with a police officer or other officer in making, or may request a police officer or other officer to make, a search, arrest, or detention. ”

“ There shall be established in the City a prosecution service to be headed by a city prosecutor and such number of assistant prosecutors as may be necessary, who shall be organizationally part of the Department of Justice, and under the supervision and control of the Secretary of Justice and whose qualifications, manner of appointment, rank, salary and benefits shall be governed by existing laws covering prosecutors in the Department of Justice. ”