Former Delaware State Auditor Kathy McGuiness is appealing her criminal charges in the Delaware Supreme Court.
McGuiness filed an appeal on March 29, arguing she received an unfair trial and that her rights were violated before the trial.
The appeal claims the Delaware Department of Justice committed “the largest Brady violation in the history of Delaware by waiting six weeks before trial to disclose 511,266 digital files that were in its possession for more than six months, none of which it bothered to search for exculpatory material.”
A Brady violation entails the failure of a prosecutor to disclose exculpatory material to the defense, breaking a rule established by the US Supreme Court in the 1960s.
McGuiness and her lawyer, Steve Wood, also claim in the document that Chief Investigator Frank Robinson swore a false affidavit.
The appeal also says McGuiness is the only Delaware statewide official to be charged and convicted of a crime while in office.
McGuiness was found guilty of three misdemeanors in July, one later dismissed, leaving her with one count of conflict of interest and one count of official misconduct on her record, and sentenced to a year of probation, 500 hours of community service and a $10,000 fine in October.
The Department of Justice has not yet filed its own brief in response.
