After a decision was made to uphold the firing of officer Erik Andrade on Wednesday, who was fired for his social media posts, NBC affiliate TMJ4 published a news report verifying that over 100 current and former Milwaukee police officers are sitting on what’s called the Brady-Giglio list.
The officers on the Brady-Giglio list are officers that the district attorney’s office believes may be problematic, due to either engaging in questionable acts or being accused of questionable acts while on-duty.
The Brady list was created in 1963, after a U.S. Supreme Court hearing of Brady v. Maryland.
The Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors have an obligation to disclose to the defense any and all evidence, including exculpatory evidence, that may benefit the defense.
Eleven years later after the Brady v. Maryland case*,* the Giglio v. United States case entered the court house.Chief Justice Burger stated in Giglio v. United States:
“When the reliability of a given witness may well be determinative of guilt or innocence, nondisclosure of evidence affecting credibility falls within this general rule.”
The general rule the Chief Justice was referring to was exculpatory disclosure.
One of the ways to be put on the Brady-Giglio list is by lying about breaking a law or policy.
While some departments with zero-tolerance policies fire officers on the spot, such as the Arkansas and New York State Police, not every department does. California has a statute, CA Gov. Code §3305.5(a), which states an officer cannot be fired or denied a promotion for being on the Brady list.
“(a) A punitive action, or denial of promotion on grounds other than merit, shall not be undertaken by any public agency against any public safety officer solely because that officer’s name has been placed on a Brady list, or that the officer’s name may otherwise be subject to disclosure pursuant to Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83 .”
When the concerns regarding the list was brought to the attention of the head of the Public Safety and Health Committee by TMJ4, both Alderman Bob Donovan and Alderman Terry Witkowski were unaware of the list.Witkowski stated:
“You wonder why they’re police officers or why they’re still police officers if they’re not credible.”
Donovan stated:
“It’s frustrating certainly that we weren’t made aware that this exists.”
Chief Alfonso Morales, also made a statement regarding the Brady-Giglio list.
“By removing that tool, the ability to testify, that basically puts me as a leader of the city of Milwaukee Police Department in a position to say I can’t use this officer out on the streets,” Morales stated, according TMJ4.
Currently, the list the District Attorney’s office has contains the names of 156 law enforcement officers, meaning that 40 come from other departments.
Andrade went to Facebook mocking Sterling Browns arrest hours after he was arrested.
After the department released video of the arrest, Andrade also went to Facebook again.
In September, an officer was fired from the department for using his service weapon while drunk.
