The point was to yield confessions, even while ignoring potentially exculpatory evidence.
It is hard not to conclude that the real agent of confusion is more basic – and that it has something to do with the exculpatory plc structure that underpins England's management at all levels.
All of this can be clearly seen on the video of the confrontation that a bystander recorded on his smartphone, released Wednesday by the St Louis police department in the apparent belief that it exonerates the officers involved.To my eye, the notion that this video is exculpatory evidence seems absurd.
Yet roughly 20m Asians died in the 1930s and 1940s, thanks to the Japanese, and many were enslaved, tortured, raped or subjected to medical experiments, including vivisection.Mr Koizumi has dropped plenty of hints that he does not share this exculpatory version of history.
At present, prosecutors make up their own minds how to fulfil the legal obligation to hand over to the defence evidence that is "relevant" and "exculpatory".
The Justice Department argues that this level of misconduct is modest given the thousands of cases it handles.Judge Kozinski worries, however, that there is "an epidemic" of Brady violations when exculpatory evidence is hidden from defence lawyers by prosecutors.
A more sensible idea would be to require the state to provide the defence with all its evidence particularly any exculpatory evidence during the plea process, rather than just during or before trial.
In any case, each jurisdiction treats insanity claims in its own way, so they may well disagree over whether brain-image data are exculpatory.
It's impossible to sue a prosecutor, even if he intentionally withholds exculpatory evidence that sends an innocent person to prison.
But because 14 executed war criminals, among them General Hideki Tojo, are also enshrined there, Yasukuni has become the site for an exculpatory interpretation of the second world war that plays down or even denies the atrocities that flowed from Japan's militarism, and plays up the notion of Japan as victim not aggressor.
In addition to being unjust, it is illegal for prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence; they are obligated to turn it over to the defence.
