CJ 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 54: Perjury, New York County District Attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau
Introducing the Prosecutors
In 1997, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau declined to seek the death penalty in a
high‐profile case involving the murder of a New York City police officer. Morgenthau
announced he would seek life without parole—as opposed to capital punishment—for Scott
Schneiderman, accused in the murder of Officer Anthony Sanchez. All district attorneys enjoy
discretion in the application of death‐penalty statutes. In fact, they must carefully consider a
range of potentially mitigating circumstances that would rule out capital punishment.
Morgenthau's general opposition to capital punishment was well‐known, but he had said he
would consider individual death‐penalty cases as they presented themselves. New York
Governor Pataki called Morgenthau's decision “disappointing,” adding, “In my view, the death
penalty should have been sought in this case.” But, as the New York Posteditorialized, “the
Manhattan D.A. is no softy when it comes to violent crime—and if anybody has earned the right
to have a judgment call of this sort respected, it's Bob Morgenthau.”
In making a judgment call in the Schneiderman case, Morgenthau wrestled with what is
known as the prosecutor's dilemma. The prosecutor, as the trial lawyer for the
government in criminal cases, investigates possible violations of the law, determines the
criminal charges, reviews applications for arrest and search warrants, subpoenas
witnesses, enters into plea bargains, tries criminal cases, and recommends sentences
to courts upon convictions. But the task of the prosecutor is something more. The
prosecutor is the representative of the government upon whom the courts and the rest
of society impose an ethical standard that transcends the prosecutor's duty to convict
guilty persons. In Berger v. U.S. (1935), Justice Sutherland articulated the
prosecutor's higher duty of fairness when he declared that a prosecutor's duty is not
just to win a case, but to do justice.
The prosecutor's twofold aim, in Sutherland's view, is “that guilt shall not escape or
innocence suffer.” According to Sutherland, a prosecutor “may strike hard blows” in
trying to convict defendants, but he or she is “not at liberty to strike foul ones.” It is as
much a prosecutor's duty “to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a
wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.”
Types of Prosecutors
Prosecutors at different levels of government prosecute different types of crimes.
U.S. attorneys
At the federal level, prosecutors are known as U.S. attorneys. There is a U.S. attorney
for each federal court district in the United States. The president appoints U.S.
attorneys, who mainly serve as administrators. Assistant U.S. attorneys handle the bulk
of the trial work. The U.S. attorney general, who is the chief law enforcement officer in
the United States and the head of the Department of Justice, has supervisory
responsibility over U.S. attorneys. The 94 U.S. attorneys and nearly 2,000 assistant
federal prosecutors aggressively investigate violations of federal laws, such as white‐
collar crime, drug trafficking, and public corruption.
District attorneys
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
