From coast to coast, a disturbing pattern of prosecutorial misconduct — hidden evidence, illegal informants, and malicious tactics — continues to compromise the integrity of our legal system.

CALIFORNIA — The systemic misuse of jailhouse informants by former Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and his office has unraveled over 60 major cases and led to overturned convictions, sentence reductions, and dropped charges. Despite demands for an independent review of these tainted convictions, DA Todd Spitzer insists his office can handle the matter internally.

ILLINOIS — After facing felony conspiracy charges stemming from a protest outside an ICE detention center, local politician Michael Rabbitt — one of six co-defendants referred to as the “Broadview Six” — incurred $300,000 in legal debt and endured severe personal stress before the case was dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct. This high-profile misconduct underscores a broader pattern of the federal government bringing aggressive, often flawed cases against anti-ICE demonstrators to chill public activism.

COLORADO — District Attorney Jeff Lindsey’s office was disqualified from a 2022 double-homicide case after failing to disclose that one of the killers was a police informant. The informant had been freed on an extraordinary plea deal orchestrated by the prosecutor just months before committing the execution-style kidnappings and murders.

NEW YORK — Despite a judge overturning three wrongful murder convictions after finding Queens prosecutors deliberately suppressed exculpatory evidence, a New York state disciplinary committee quietly dismissed all complaints against the seven prosecutors involved. The secret, five-year investigation concluded with a five-sentence letter citing “insufficient evidence” of misconduct, sparking outrage from legal experts and advocates who view the decision as further proof of a broken prosecutorial accountability system.

MISSOURI — A federal appeals court has denied immunity to former prosecutor Amy McGowan, allowing exoneree Keith Carnes to pursue a civil rights lawsuit claiming she framed him for a 2003 murder. The court ruled that McGowan is not shielded by absolute immunity because her alleged actions — coercing a witness and hiding the true killer’s identity — took place while she was acting as an investigator before probable cause was established. Carnes, who spent 18 years in prison before his conviction was vacated, is now seeking damages for the severe psychological and personal toll of his wrongful imprisonment.

NEW MEXICO — The New Mexico Supreme Court is considering the disbarment of prosecutor Cosme Ripol following a disciplinary board’s recommendation regarding a pattern of severe misconduct across three criminal cases. Ripol’s inflammatory courtroom tactics and use of inadmissible evidence previously led the state Supreme Court to overturn a murder conviction and bar a retrial.

COLORADO — A district court senior judge has vacated the 2008 murder conviction of Deborah Nicholls, who has spent 18 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of murdering her three children in a house fire for insurance money. The ruling came after it was revealed that prosecutors on the case — a team that included Jeff Lindsey, now an elected District Attorney facing separate misconduct allegations — withheld a crucial state lab report pointing to Nicholls’ innocence.