Despite the numerous instances of prosecutorial misconduct in Florida capital cases

Despite the numerous instances of prosecutorial misconduct in Florida capital cases, no investigation has been launched nor program instituted to address the prevalence of such misconduct. The ABA’s assessment team stated that to stop prosecutorial abuses, "there must be meaningful sanctions, both criminal and civil, against prosecutors who engage in misconduct." ABA Report on Florida at 108. In fact, the United States Supreme Court has recognized that a prosecutor is:

the representative not of an ordinary party to acontroversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation togovern impartially is as compelling as its obligationto govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in acriminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case,but that justice shall be done.

Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935). There should be a higher ethical obligation because the prosecutor carries with him power derived from his position which must be held in check, just as each branch of government is subject to checks and balances. Without such checks and balances, Florida’s death penalty scheme "smacks of little more than a lottery system." Furman, 408 U.S. at 293 (Brennan, J., concurring).