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2005 Wis. L. Rev. 35 (2005)
Innocence, Harmless Error, and Federal Wrongful Conviction Law

handle is hein.journals/wlr2005 and id is 49 raw text is: ARTICLES INNOCENCE, HARMLESS ERROR, AND FEDERAL WRONGFUL CONVICTION LAW BRANDON L. GARRETT* Introduction .................................................................. 36 I. The Rise of Federal Wrongful Conviction Actions ............... 42 A. The Case of James Newsome .................................. 46 B. Avenues for Compensation Before the DNA Era .............. 48 C. The Role of DNA in Wrongful Conviction Actions ........... 51 D. Fair Trial Claims Brought in Section 1983 Wrongful Conviction Actions .................................. 53 II. The Court's Guilt-Based Harmless Error Rules ................... 56 A. The Chapman Rule ............................... 56 B. Harmless Error's Focus on Guilt .............................. 58 C. A Second Layer of Harmless Error Rules .................... 62 III. Reversing the Guilt Paradigm in a Civil Action ...................... 63 A. Why Harmless Error Does Not Apply in a Civil Case ........ 63 B. Exoneration and Causation .................................... 65 IV. Incorporating Fair Trial Rights in a Civil Action ................. 69 A. Brady v. Maryland .................................................. 69 B. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel ............................. 75 C. Suggestive Eyewitness Identification Procedures .............. 79 D. Coerced Confessions ........................................... 88 E. Fabrication of Evidence ........................................ 94 V. Returning the Constitution to Criminal Procedure ................ 99 A. Deterrence and Section 1983 Suits as Structural Catalysts .... 99 B. Institutional Reforms to Come .................................. 103 C. Systemic Claims ................................................... 106 D . Im m unity ........................................................... 108 E. The End of Exoneration? ........................................ 110 V I. C onclusion ............................................................... 111 * Associate, Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. I gratefully acknowledge helpful comments from Kerry Abrams, Adele Bernhard, Debi Cornwall, Sam Gross, James Liebman, Peter Neufeld, David Rudovsky, David Sklansky, Colin Starger, and Susan Sturm. Special thanks also to Jerome Skolnick and each of the participants in the New York University Law School Criminal Law Lunch, where an earlier draft was presented. I have had the privilege to represent exonerees in a number of wrongful conviction cases while working at Cochran Neufeld & Scheck, LLP, and Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP and I note my past involvement where such cases are discussed.

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