Along with the substantial power conferred upon prosecutors come unique responsibilities. Rather than serving only as a zealous advocate on behalf of a client, prosecutors have a broader set of obligations to the community, the victim, and the defendant:
The [prosecutor] is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer s1Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935)..
New York’s rules of professional conduct, which parallel the ethics rules in virtually all jurisdictions, and the American Bar Association’s Criminal justice Standards both rest on the same belief that the prosecutor’s duty is to seek justice, not simply to win cases s2See New York Rules of Prof'l Conduct R. 3.8 cmt. 1, 6B (2011); ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Prosecution Function 3-1.2(b), (c)..
Prosecutors also must abide by unique rules that reflect our special role in the legal system. Most significantly, prosecutors must satisfy an exacting standard for conviction: proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This requirement is “bottomed on a fundamental value determination of our society that it is far worse to convict an innocent [person] than to let a guilty [person] go free.” s3In re 397 U.S. 358, 372 (1970) (Harlan,_]., concurring).
That standard of proof guides the decisions of prosecutors who must decide whether to proceed with a case, not just the jurors who must decide whether to convict. At the beginning of a case, prosecutors are frequently called upon to make charging decisions before all the relevant facts are capable of being known, or all investigative steps required for trial are complete. Under New York’s legal ethics rules, charges may be brought against a defendant if they are supported by probable cause s4New York Rules of Prof’l Conduct R. 3.8(a) (2011); Model Rules of Profl Conduct R. 3.8(a) (2010).. But for generations, before determining whether a case should proceed to trial, felony prosecutors in New York County have insisted that they be personally convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt, and believe themselves able to prove that guilt to a jury. The standards governing the conduct of federal prosecutors, as well as the American Bar Association’s criminal justice standards, likewise recognize the need for prosecutors to act as a gatekeeper by making an independent assessment of the evidence before proceeding to trial s5Voir U.S. Dep’t of Justice, United States Attorneys’ Manual § 9-27.220 (1997); ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Prosecution Function 3-3.9(b)(i).
These core principles, by which this Office operates, are therefore clear. If, after a careful assessment of the facts, the prosecutor is not convinced that a defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, he or she must decline to proceed. While an abiding concern for victims of crime is an essential attribute for every prosecutor working in this Ofñce, that concern cannot eclipse our obligation to act only on the evidence and the facts, mindful of the high burden of proof in a criminal prosecution.