 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Fair play on the field of justice
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001 Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober's first week in office was punctuated by an unusual -- and thoroughly refreshing -- move toward greater justice for all. Last Friday, Ober finished telling more than two dozen defendants that the evidence used to convict them might have been tainted by faulty work by the FBI's crime laboratory. That disclosure allows the defendants to try to convince a judge that their convictions should be set aside. By coming clean, Ober may have opened up a can of legal worms, but he showed a commendable sense of priorities and ethics and, hopefully, set a tone of fair play that will inspire and govern other prosecutors in his office. Ober had less noble avenues available to him. He could have -- like his predecessor Harry Lee Coe -- merely sat on the information, leaving defendants and their attorneys none the wiser. Or he could have conducted -- as the FBI itself invited him to do -- an in-house review of the reach of the taint, later deciding to stay mute. Instead, Ober did something far too rare these days: He did the right thing. "If we are going to fight (cases) in the courthouse, it's got to be a fair fight," Ober said. "We need to make certain that people convicted are done so in an ethical, honest manner." Welcome to the job, Mr. Ober. Keep up the good work.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Opinion page |
