Conviction Reversed After Confidentiality Breached

The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a conviction due to the prosecutor access to confidential information

Bain contends that the State violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel because at least five prosecutors had possession of his confidential trial strategy before his trial. We conclude that when Bain’s confidential trial strategy was disclosed to prosecuting attorneys, a rebuttable presumption arose that Bain’s trial was tainted by a Sixth Amendment violation. Because the court’s remedy was insufficient to rebut this presumption and ensure that Bain received a fair trial, we reverse the judgment and vacate Bain’s convictions. And because we vacate Bain’s convictions, we do not consider his other assignments of error.

The court noted a series of counsel changes for both prosecution and defense

…in August 2013, the court heard a motion from Matt Lierman, an assistant attorney general, to allow that office’s attorneys to withdraw as prosecutors because of a conflict of interest. Lierman informed the court that while going through the discovery materials that he had received from the county attorney’s office, he saw confidential communications between Bain and Palmer, Bain’s original attorney. Lierman reported that he had sealed the confidential documents in a tamper-proof envelope so that no one else could access them, and he asked the court to keep them sealed. The court sustained his motion to withdraw. As stated, the confidential communications are not part of this record…

Here, the [trial] court’s sorting procedures were inadequate…It is true that the court intended to ensure that Marsh, the special prosecutor who ultimately tried the case, did not receive Bain’s confidential trial strategy. But the sorting procedures could not ensure that before the court appointed Marsh, the State had not used the information to develop evidence or witnesses or to otherwise gain an advantage or make decisions detrimental to Bain. Notably, the county attorney’s office had possession of Bain’s confidential trial strategy for 2 months, followed by the Attorney General’s possession of the information for 8 months.

 …we hold that when a court is presented with evidence that the State has become privy to a defendant’s confidential trial strategy, it must sua sponte conduct an evidentiary hearing that requires the State to prove that the disclosure did not prejudice the defendant, and it must also give the defendant an opportunity to challenge the State’s proof. Because the court’s procedures failed to ensure that Bain received a fair trial, we vacate his convictions.

Having trouble linking to the decision, which is State v. Bain.