Many of them took place before Mr. Hynes was elected, but could involve prosecutors still in the office.
One of the biggest sources of delay — and case dismissal — involves prosecutors' getting signed statements from victims, witnesses and police officers.
In the past, the police would involve prosecutors much later, leaving less time for holes in the evidence to be identified, Mr. Davies said.
Such task forces, based in Washington but involving prosecutors around the country, are usually reserved for potential crimes of national import, and this is certainly that.
If a scandal is defined as something exceptional — as an unusually egregious display of political squalor that sooner or later involves prosecutors and indictments — then this one is as Republican as privatized Social Security.
Sometimes such convictions are due to overwhelmed or incompetent public defenders, but some cases involve prosecutors so eager to win they break the law, hiding witnesses or burying evidence.
Even when a task force is appointed to target crime in a particular sector, it typically involves prosecutors working with the police.
The Supreme Court is poised to take up yet another misconduct case from Louisiana involving prosecutors who suppressed evidence favorable to the defendant that likely would have changed the jury's decision to execute him.
Biden wrote the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which led to creation of the Peoria County Family Justice Center, a collaborative effort involving prosecutors, courts, law enforcement, probation officials and the abuse prevention center, the Tribune reports.
It should be apparent to everyone involved -- prosecutors, the judge, the jury -- that this is, technically speaking, perjury.
