Oh, was I not supposed to say anything?

“It is not possible this was leaked without there being a violation of the law.” So says someone familiar with the Barry Bonds case about the release of information that Alex Rodriguez was one of the 104 players who tested positive for steroids in 2003. The government was not supposed to be able to link any of those test results with actual player names. But they did. And someone who did obviously didn't feel any need to keep that information to him or herself. According to this article, people who know the judge and are familiar with the case expect that there will be contempt hearings on this leak. I certainly hope so.

This leaking of sensitive or prejudicial information is something I have complained about before. Under most state's ethical rules, it's supposed to be a violation for the prosecutor to allow the public to learn about the existence of a confession. Prosecutors are supposed to be held accountable for the actions of the police and investigators who work on the case. I complained about this in the case of the 8 year-old murder defendant in Arizona. I complain about it because, despite this rule, I am unfamiliar with any prosecutor ever being publicly criticized for these leaks, let alone investigated for an ethical violation.

Here is a disciplinary case from Kansas in which a prosecutor was disciplined for inappropriate release and sharing of information obtained in a criminal investigation. The case involved rape allegations made by a young teenage girl. While the prosecutor declined to prosecute the rape allegation, he did think the parents of the teenagers who were at the party where the incident occurred should be made aware of what their kids were doing. So he publicly offered to show photos from the party, some of which were quite explicit, to any parents who came to his office. This prosecutor received a 6-month suspension for not having the sense to keep those photos private.

One of the violations this prosecutor was found to have committed was causing undue stress, humiliation, or embarrassment to a 3rd party. This would seem to apply to whoever leaked the information about A-Rod. The feds weren't supposed to know the identities of those players who tested positive. I can't think of any reason for anyone to release the information about A-Rod other than to embarrass him. Maybe it was a Red Sox fan.

Prosecutors need to be more careful with the information they receive through a criminal investigation. They get access to a lot of very inflammatory, very prejudicial stuff. They need to be mindful of what an awesome responsibility possessing that information is. They are not entitled to do whatever the hell they please with the information they obtain during a criminal investigation. I fear that message won't really sink in as long as prosecutors don't suffer any real consequences when they do leak things. The disciplinary action in the Kansas case was an encouraging step. Another good step would be for someone to pursue this leak about A-Rod and holds the person responsible accountable.