Illinois | Appeals and Writs
Legal Question
Can police perjury vacate verdict in unrelated case?
Can prior, provable perjury of police officers in a civil suit in which they were defendants/witnesses be used as grounds for an appeal of a verdict in an unrelated criminal case that took place some years later?
These police officers were major witnesses against the criminal
defendant who had unsuccessfully raised issues of police misconduct in his defense. The extensive prior perjury was unknown by both the prosecutor and defense attorney. I doubt that had the jury known of the prior perjury of the NY State Police witnesses that a conviction would have resulted. Certainly the credibility of the police would have been destroyed.
This was a western NY case, People v Beaufort-Cutner which later became a made for TV movie.
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Read More Answered By: Edward Hoffman |
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