prosecutor offered employment by corporate victim during criminal trial
How later courts described this case
- prosecutor offered employment by corporate victim during criminal trial
- judge did not abuse his discretion in reducing a sketch first entered as an exhibit to “the status of a chalk”
- court assumed admissibility of grand jury transcript
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
*600 Brown, J.
(concurring). I fully concur in the majority opinion. I do, however, feel compelled to state that the offer ofiemployment which occurred in this case is incompatible with the prosecutor’s obligation to avoid both the reality and appearance of a conflict of interest in the performance of his official duties. Cf. Matter of Bonin, 375 Mass. 680, 711 (1978). It cannot be gainsaid that the criminal process must not only be fair but that it must manifestly appear to be fair. As the majority pointed out, the instant record does not support the allegation of improper motivation on the part of the prosecutor. I, however, depart slightly from the view expressed by my brothers. I believe there was a compelling need for the prosecutor to place on the record the clearly improper offer of employment by the telephone company (the victim here). In short, that offer offends justice, shocks the conscience, and is obnoxious to the concept of fair play. Whether intended or not, the message could not be clearer — the telephone company wanted "an edge.”