Jim Brown: Too often, too little concern for justice here

Remember the scene in the movie, “The Fugitive,”where Harrison Ford is about to jump off a cliff into a raging river? He turns to his pursuer, a federal agent played by Tommy Lee Jones, and says: “I’m innocent!”
Jones shakes his head and says: “I don’t care.”
Legal observers across the nation have concluded that if you want to find the most egregious examples of wayward prosecutors who think nothing of hiding evidence that an accused is innocent, just go down to the deepest of the deep southern states.
“The U.S Attorney commenting scandal in New Orleans gave us a poster child for misconduct and appalling behavior.” The New Orleans Advocate (April 7, 2015)
“New Orleans prosecutors –– egregious instances of prosecutorial misconduct. These abuses did not simply stroke the line between lawful prosecutions and heavy handedness; in the words of Justice John Paul Stevens, they were ‘blatant and repeated’.” The New York Times (April 13, 2015).
“The Untouchables: America’s Misbehaving Prosecutors, and the System that protects them. Nowhere is this ethos of impunity more apparent then in Louisiana.” The Huffington Post (April 10, 2015.)
“Grotesque Department Of Justice Misconduct. In a shocking case of “grotesque’ misconduct by federal prosecutors, a federal judge in Louisiana has ordered a new trial …” National Review (April 13, 2015)
Now these articles listed are just about Louisiana. Take a moment to Google “prosecutorial Misconduct,” and check out the reams of news reports on this alarming subject from across the nation.
Too often, there is a “win at all costs” mentality where the end justifies whatever means a prosecutor decides to use to obtain a conviction. Efforts are often not made to seek justice, which is what the criminal justice system is supposed to be all about. Justice is swept aside when a prosecutorial “no holds barred” effort is pursued to get a conviction at any cost.
One of the more recent misconduct soap operas involves the New Orleans U.S. Attorney’s Office where, at the time, the longest serving federal prosecutor in the country, Jim Letten, resigned amid a scandal involving a whole host of his staff. A federal judge issued a scathing 50-page order alleging possible criminal misconduct by former federal prosecutor Sal Perricone and former first Assistant U.S. Attorney Jan Mann. Perricone and Mann both resigned under a cloud of suspicion along with Mann’s husband, Jim Mann.
Do these prosecutors who break the law act in an evil way? Or do they just not care? Tis exemplifies, in most instances, the prototype of those who bend the law and hide exculpatory evidence to get a conviction. They may not be evil, but they are indifferent.
If government crimes are not checked for the few, then we all are at risk. Prosecutors who lie and cover up should be disbarred and prosecuted themselves. Otherwise, there is no integrity in the system.
Jim Brown is a former insurance commissioner and secreatare of state who served a federal prison term for lying to investigators. Brown continues to maintain his innocence.