District attorneys are challenging an accusation by a New York State Bar Association section chairman that prosecutors instruct their assistants to conceal Brady materials from the defense in criminal cases.
Manhattan defense attorney Marvin Schechter, in a “Message From the Chair” in the summer quarterly newsletter of the state bar’s Criminal Justice Section, contends that “ From its inception, case history shows that Brady [v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83] has been continually violated, thus undermining the popular, though quaint notion of fair play based on the prosecutor’s dual obligation to the public as well as the accused, to be fair and honest in the presentation of evidence and in reviewing material which is favorable to the defendant.”
