How we found criminal trials where Ohio prosecutors acted improperly
In a two-year investigation, we built a dataset of some 450 claims of prosecutorial misconduct by analyzing thousands of pages of appellate decisions from 2018 to 2021. Detailed here is how we did it.
Prosecutors have immense power in the criminal justice system. They decide whom to charge with crimes, what punishment to seek and what evidence to use at trial. State and national legal and ethical standards serve as a check on that power. These rules are meant to deter prosecutors from withholding exculpatory evidence, failing to disclose expert witnesses and making inappropriate trial statements, among other improper acts.
In Ohio, prosecutorial misconduct happens when a prosecutor violates a law meant to guarantee the right to a fair trial, even unwillfully, and that improper conduct prejudices a defendant's constitutional due process protections, requiring the court to overturn the conviction. Prosecutors can also engage
