BigCityAccountant
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There is a new book out by a criminal defense layer based in Kenosha Wisconsin named Michael D. Cicchini.
Regarding Denny, "The Denny rule is a bizarre double standard that often operates to shut down third-party defenses that might be brought by defendants. It does this by placing a much higher evidentiary burden on defendants than on the state.
For example, in order to use a third-party defense at trial, a defendant must first prove there is “a direct connection” between the third party and the crime. Yet when it comes to the prosecutor’s case, the jury will be instructed that circumstantial evidence “is not necessarily better or worse than direct evidence.”
Further, even when a defendant is able to provide direct evidence of a third party’s guilt, Denny still shuts down the defense. How? By also requiring the defendant to prove the third party’s motive for the crime. Here then comes yet another double standard, since the jury will be instructed that “the state is not required to prove motive on the part of a defendant in order to convict.”
Denny is an irrational, truth-suppressing rule that Avery’s trial and appellate judges used to foreclose his third-party defense in the Halbach murder case. Even worse, the application of Denny to Avery’s first case not only resulted in a wrongful conviction but also allowed a rapist (Gregory Allen) to roam free."
The lesson in all of this is that law enforcement may suffer from subconscious tunnel vision, may do a poor job investigating a crime, may intentionally target an innocent person, or may simply be overworked. And when courts handcuff defendants with law enforcement’s deficiencies and limitations, guilty people will slide under the radar.
In other words, even if courts don’t care about convicting innocent people, they need to remember the other half of this equation: When courts use Denny’s irrational double standard to suppress evidence of third-party guilt, guilty third parties will go free. Law enforcement’s flaws are deep and many, and we all lose when Denny prohibits defendants from doing the job that law enforcement should have done but failed to do. Until Denny is overturned, we’ll never know how many Gregory Allen's are roaming free and committing more crimes in Wisconsin.
http://wislawjournal.com/2016/06/06/critics-corner-convicting-avery-and-overturning-denny/
Regarding Denny, "The Denny rule is a bizarre double standard that often operates to shut down third-party defenses that might be brought by defendants. It does this by placing a much higher evidentiary burden on defendants than on the state.
For example, in order to use a third-party defense at trial, a defendant must first prove there is “a direct connection” between the third party and the crime. Yet when it comes to the prosecutor’s case, the jury will be instructed that circumstantial evidence “is not necessarily better or worse than direct evidence.”
Further, even when a defendant is able to provide direct evidence of a third party’s guilt, Denny still shuts down the defense. How? By also requiring the defendant to prove the third party’s motive for the crime. Here then comes yet another double standard, since the jury will be instructed that “the state is not required to prove motive on the part of a defendant in order to convict.”
Denny is an irrational, truth-suppressing rule that Avery’s trial and appellate judges used to foreclose his third-party defense in the Halbach murder case. Even worse, the application of Denny to Avery’s first case not only resulted in a wrongful conviction but also allowed a rapist (Gregory Allen) to roam free."
The lesson in all of this is that law enforcement may suffer from subconscious tunnel vision, may do a poor job investigating a crime, may intentionally target an innocent person, or may simply be overworked. And when courts handcuff defendants with law enforcement’s deficiencies and limitations, guilty people will slide under the radar.
In other words, even if courts don’t care about convicting innocent people, they need to remember the other half of this equation: When courts use Denny’s irrational double standard to suppress evidence of third-party guilt, guilty third parties will go free. Law enforcement’s flaws are deep and many, and we all lose when Denny prohibits defendants from doing the job that law enforcement should have done but failed to do. Until Denny is overturned, we’ll never know how many Gregory Allen's are roaming free and committing more crimes in Wisconsin.
http://wislawjournal.com/2016/06/06/critics-corner-convicting-avery-and-overturning-denny/
