Chaotic Dismissal Of Case Against NYPD Detective Highlights Prosecutorial Failings
Thanks to a lack of confidence in cases where Detective Joseph Franco was involved, more than 400 criminal cases have been dropped or dismissed. Now, the case against Franco has been dismissed because of misconduct too.
Landwebs
The case against Ex-NYPD detective Joseph Franco has been dismissed after a botched trial. Franco was charged with perjury and other related crimes in 2019 after working as a detective for decades, Maria Cramer and Jonah E. Bromwich report for the New York Times. Thanks to a lack of confidence in cases where Franco was involved, more than 400 criminal cases have been dropped or dismissed, the New York Daily News reports. Now, the case against Franco has been dismissed because of misconduct too, with Justice Robert Mandelbaum citing multiple instances of prosecutors failing to disclose evidence and failing to meet required deadlines.
“It is ironic, but in a really bad way, for the legitimacy of the criminal system in New York that prosecutors, even going after police misconduct, themselves commit misconduct. A lot of lawyers are quick to blame the police, but are less interested in exposing prosecutors to the oversight they clearly need,” Cynthia Godsoe, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, told the Times. “
