Official Misconduct in Philadelphia Wrongful Convictions

Examples Of How Official Misconduct Can Result In Defendants Becoming Victims Of Wrongful Convictions

Either the law enforcement officers who investigated your case or the prosecutors who handled your criminal trial may have engaged in official misconduct. In some cases, both parties engage in official misconduct that leads to a wrongful conviction.

Examples of police officer official misconduct can include:

• False arrest, or arresting an individual without probable cause to suspect them of having committed a crime.
• Utilizing excessive force in detaining an individual, including employing lethal force in situations where a detainee did not pose a threat of serious injury or death to officers or to the public or using police canines to inflict injury.
• Planting inculpatory evidence on a detainee or at the scene of a crime.
• Falsifying arrest records and reports.
• Assault or physical or mental abuse by law enforcement officers or corrections officers, which may be employed to coerce a false confession.
• Continuing to detain an individual after they should have been legally released.
• Engaging in perjury when testifying in court.

Examples of prosecutorial misconduct may include:

• Withholding or destroying exculpatory evidence.
• Offering favorable treatment to co-defendants or other offenders in exchange for false or misleading testimony.
• Coaching other witnesses to provide false or misleading testimony.
• Continuing to pursue prosecution despite having insufficient evidence to support probable cause.
• Misrepresenting facts or evidence to the trial court.

Marrone Law Firm, LLC Can Assist You with Seeking Financial Recovery after Being Exonerated When You Have Been the Target of Official Misconduct in Wrongful Convictions

Pursuing a claim of official misconduct in wrongful convictions is a complex, fact-intensive endeavor. In many cases, it can prove difficult to secure the evidence needed to prove official misconduct by specific individuals, as police departments and district attorney’s offices have little incentive to cooperate in an investigation that may show their department engaged in misconduct.

In Philadelphia, the district attorney’s office has established the Conviction Integrity Unit, a task force of prosecutors who review credible claims of actual innocence and claims of wrongful conviction. In the past few years the unit has managed to obtain dozens of exonerations and commutations in Philadelphia County.

If you have been exonerated after the court found that you were wrongfully convicted, Marrone Law Firm, LLC can help if your wrongful conviction was the product of official misconduct by police or prosecutors. Our experienced legal team has the knowledge and resources to thoroughly investigate cases of official misconduct in a wrongful conviction. We will tenaciously pursue evidence that supports your case, not backing down against the efforts of law enforcement departments and prosecutors’ offices who seek to shield that information. We are proud to defend the rights of those who have been wrongfully convicted due to police and prosecutor misconduct and to hold law enforcement officials who engage in violations of criminal defendants’ rights accountable for their actions.