Why Hunter's case should matter to you

If you’re looking for a poster child in the quest to test judicial fairness in your backyard, Wiley Hunter isn’t a likely suspect.

What you really want is an innocent man bent, folded and mutilated by a corrupt and powerful legal system.

Well, Mr. Hunter isn’t innocent; he was nailed with 75 pounds of primo pot in the trunk of his rented car back in 2007. And while nobody can conclude that corruption or even gross negligence runs rampant in the hallowed halls of North Idaho’s apprehenders and punishers, Hunter’s case should at least make you squirm a little in your easy chair.

The process is what’s on trial here, a guarantee to everyday citizens that the system will consistently work as it’s intended to. More to the point, as Hunter says, if this can happen to him, how do you know it won’t happen to you?

Precisely what happened during that bust and through the dozen years Hunter has raged against the machine remains a matter of conjecture that might be clarified during an upcoming appellate court hearing in Boise. His attorney, public defender Stacia Hagerty, paints a disturbing picture of doors slammed in her client’s face by police, prosecutors, a long string of defense attorneys and even a sitting judge.

One of her most damning accusations amounts to what may be the possible suppression of exculpatory evidence, a linchpin in the dispensation of justice. Here’s what Idaho Criminal Rule 16, Discovery and Inspection, says:

“(a) Mandatory Disclosure of Evidence and Material by the Prosecution. As soon as practicable after the filing of charges against the accused, the prosecuting attorney must disclose to defendant or defendant’s counsel any material or information in the prosecuting attorney’s possession or control, or that later comes into the prosecuting attorney’s possession or control, that tends to negate the guilt of the accused as to the offense charged or that would tend to reduce the punishment for the offense.”

Hagerty says those who put and kept Hunter behind bars refused to provide evidence — or destroyed it — which would have dramatically altered the outcome of her client’s case. If that violation of rights actually occurred, it’s a chilling prospect for us all. It also calls for investigation and possible prosecution of whomever was involved, if the allegation is proved.

Wiley Hunter might be one of the least sympathetic characters in a local legal drama you’ve ever encountered. But he also might be one of the most important.

In a sense, we’re all on trial here.