Event: 50th Anniversary Commemoration Brady v. Maryland

Another invite for a great upcoming event appeared in our inbox:

“There is an epidemic of Brady violations abroad in the land. Only judges can put a stop to it.” These two sentences were written by Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of United States v. Olsen. Brady v. Maryland was issued by the Supreme Court of the United States on May 13, 1963. It has, during the course of the past fifty years, been cited (as of February 18) 82,597 times. Under “The Brady Rule,” prosecutors are required to disclose materially exculpatory evidence in the government’s possession to the defense. “Brady material” or evidence the prosecutor is required to disclose under this rule includes any evidence favorable to the accused – evidence that goes towards negating a defendant’s guilt, that would reduce a defendant’s potential sentence, or evidence going to the credibility of a witness.

Speakers: Honorable Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; E. Clinton Bamberger, Jr., Esquire, who represented John L. Brady before the Maryland Court of Appeals and United States Supreme Court; John Martin Jones, Jr., Esquire, counsel for Brady and with Mr. Bamberger on the Supreme Court brief; Lindsey Duvall, Esquire, son of C. Osborne Duvall the former State’s Attorney for Anne Arundel County and prosecutor in the Brady case; Honorable Joseph H. H. Kaplan, law clerk for the Honorable Chief Judge Frederick W. Brune of the Maryland Court of Appeals, the author of the decision in Brady v. State, the term that Brady was argued and decided; Honorable Gregg Bernstein the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City. The moderator for the evening will be George W. Liebmann, Esquire, President of the Library Company of the Baltimore Bar’s Board of Directors.

Reception: There will be a wine and cheese reception immediately following the program.

Place: The Main Reading Room of the Bar Library, Clarence Mitchell, Jr. Courthouse (100 North Calvert Street – Room 618).
Time: 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 12, 2014.

Invitees: Members of the Library Company of the Baltimore Bar and their guest, judges, employees of Baltimore City and its courts, courthouse employees, government lawyers, public interest lawyers, law librarians, law and college faculty and students. Others may attend on payment of a $20 admission charge or upon application for Bar Library membership.

R.S.V.P.: If you would like to attend telephone the Library at 410-727-0280 or reply by e-mail to jwbennett@barlib.org.