
Disclosure
Stephen Bright, teaching Yale's course on Capital Punishment: Race, Poverty, and Disadvantage, examines the prosecutor's constitutional duty to disclose evidence that could point to a defendant's innocence. Drawing on the Brady line of cases, Bright walks through what disclosure obligations actually require, when withheld evidence rises to a constitutional violation, and how failures to turn over exculpatory material have played out in real capital cases. The segment sits within a class session that also covers closing argument, and the assigned readings frame disclosure as a recurring failure point in death penalty litigation rather than an abstract procedural rule. Bright's approach stays grounded in case law and courtroom practice, showing how the duty to disclose interacts with prosecutorial discretion and the risk of wrongful convictions. At twenty minutes, it is a focused look at one procedural safeguard and how often it breaks down in practice.