Brad Haywood: Defending Against “Snitch” Testimony

Sheldon, Flood & Haywood partner Bradley Haywood recently presented at the 23rd Annual Virginia Bar Association Capital Defense Workshop on the topic of “Litigating Snitches: From Reliability Hearings to Jury Instructions”, which discussed the serious risk snitches poses to a reliable adjudication of guilt and punishment, in addition to the many strategies defense counsel may use in attacking snitch testimony (including testimony by jailhouse informants and cooperating co-defendants, co-conspirators and accomplices). Although presented in the context of capital litigation, virtually all of the strategies discussed may be adapted to non-capital cases. In fact, the problem of snitch testimony is arguably as great in the Federal system — particularly in drug conspiracies — as it is in the capital realm. A brief overview of the presentation along with resources have been added to our website, and may be found here.