Summarise federal criminal discovery and list proof issues
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the discovery the lawyer loads in a closed system, build a chronology and a table of each element of the offence the lawyer has identified, with the document that bears on it. Write no advice on the plea.
- What the lawyer must review
- Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16(a), upon the defendant's request, requires the government to disclose specified statements of the defendant, the defendant's prior record in the government's possession, and documents and objects within the government's possession, custody or control that are material to preparing the defense, that the government intends to use in its case-in-chief, or that were obtained from or belong to the defendant. Brady v. Maryland holds that suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused, upon request, violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, regardless of good faith or bad faith. You decide what is exculpatory and what is still missing. State prosecutions use state discovery rules.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Potential support includes summarising source material and identifying points for review. Confirm the tool’s capability and permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Review the original source set for relevant material absent from the output, including contrary evidence, qualifications and remaining gaps.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disclosure and unused-material tracker (United States) | Checklist | AI use Yellow | A log of what the defense requested under Brady, Giglio, and, in federal court, Rule 16, what arrived, and what is still outstanding. |
| Criminal client interview checklist (United States) | Checklist | AI use Yellow | An unsigned internal question list for a first interview in a US criminal case, covering the client's account, documents, and what the client has already told the police. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.