United States v. Nejad

487 F.Supp.3d 206 (2020)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

In 2018, the Government's indictment of D. After a two-week trial a jury found him guilty on five counts. But in part because of its disclosure failures, the Government later agreed that the Court should grant D's motion for a new trial, vacate his guilty verdict, and dismiss the indictment against him with prejudice. The Court did just that, thus ending this criminal proceeding with respect to D. After dismissing the indictment, the Court pressed the Government for more information about its disclosure failures and misstatements. In response, the Government revealed an array of additional errors, including disclosure failures and new admissions of misconduct related to the Government's handling of search-warrant returns. In the middle of the trial, Government lawyers allegedly realized for the first time that they had not turned over a particular document to the defense. Instead of immediately disclosing that file, Government lawyers spent almost twenty hours strategizing how best to turn it over. One prosecutor suggested to another that they 'bury' the evidence along with other, already-disclosed documents, and the second prosecutor agreed. And after looping in more prosecutors, the Government did just that, obfuscating its disclosure. The Government now admits that this document had exculpatory value for D. Disappointingly, the leadership of the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) has failed to unequivocally condemn these prosecutors' improper actions and communications, and the Court has not been ensured that an investigation by the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility will take place. A further response is therefore required from the Court.