Six Dowd Bennett Lawyers and Other Defense Attorneys Urge Reform to Allow Criminal Depositions
Dowd Bennett attorneys weighed in with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to amend Rule 15 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow for broader use of depositions in federal criminal cases. Currently, federal rules limit defense attorneys from conducting pre-trial depositions while prosecutors can avail themselves of pre-trial testimony through grand jury subpoenas.
In a letter to the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure Dowd Bennett attorneys Ed Dowd, Jim Martin, Michelle Nasser, Jimmy Martin, Adam Simon and Jimmy Arce described their experience in successfully defending former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens. Greitens, whose case was handled in Missouri state court, had the benefit of “critical discovery depositions” that would not have been allowed if the case was in federal court. The letter goes on to say that the Greitens case “is an instructive example of how depositions can change the course and outcome of a case by exposing unreliable testimony, illuminating discovery and evidentiary shortcomings, and protecting the integrity of the criminal process.”
For more information please see the attached Reuters article.