RockyTop85
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It’s not that simple.
Instead of just saying that the State has to share every piece of material evidence with the defendant, an easy bright line rule, our courts have decided to place even more responsibility on prosecutors by adding that only *exculpatory* evidence needs to be shared and allowing the prosecutor to exercise their judgment over what is exculpatory. Since Brady courts have also taken a chainsaw to the definition of what is material and exculpatory and carved it up.
Most prosecutors can’t spell exculpatory, much less identify evidence that meets that definition. It’s not always apparent in advance what evidence is exculpatory. Basically, there are a lot of baked in excuses for withholding evidence because the standard is broken.
What Harris did was (as far as I know) legal, technically ethical, and typical. But the rule is a floor. The prosecutor can choose to lay on the floor and roll around in the dirt or they can stand up and be a public servant who actually cares about justice. Harris did the former. It just shows bad judgment.
