The prosecutor assigned to his case, Dan Rizzo, deliberately hid phone records that would have powerfully supported Dewayne’s alibi. Those records might have stayed hidden forever had the police officer who originally obtained them not saved a copy that he found in his garage when Dewayne was wrongfully incarcerated. It was only after the original records were turned over to Dewayne’s lawyer Brian Stolarz and Dewayne was released from death row that an independent special prosecutor conducted a full investigation into former ADA Rizzo’s actions. That investigation yielded new proof that Dan Rizzo not only knew about the phone records before trial, but had concealed them from Dewayne’s defense team.
What Dan Rizzo did is considered prosecutorial misconduct. It’s difficult to know the full extent of such misconduct — and how often it leads to wrongful convictions — in part because prosecutors are often the ones who control access to evidence needed to investigate claims of misconduct.
Even when there is substantial evidence of misconduct, holding prosecutors accountable can be close to impossible. Under current United States Supreme Court precedent, prosecutors are frequently granted “immunity” from civil lawsuits (meaning they can’t be sued by a wrongly convicted person) even when they intentionally violate the law — making oversight by public agencies and the courts all the more critical.
The Innocence Project is working hard to hold prosecutors accountable for serious misconduct when it occurs to deter future misconduct and prevent wrongful convictions. We’re also trying to improve the legal systems that are designed to hold prosecutors accountable but, too often, fall short. And finally, we want to prevent misconduct before it occurs by expanding the rules that require prosecutors to turn over evidence to someone accused of a crime.
This work is essential to our mission to exonerate those who are wrongfully incarcerated, and it’s not possible without support for people like you.
The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. www.innocenceproject.org
