Even Janoušek deserves a fair trial

No one is very happy with the three-year prison sentence handed down last week to Roman Janoušek for hitting a woman with his car, except for maybe those who feared he would get off scot-free. Our main complaint isn't with the length of the sentence but with the behavior of the state prosecutor, Jana Kadeřábková. When the charge against Janoušek was upgraded early last year from inflicting grievous bodily harm to attempted murder, we said it was absurd. But the wiretaps Kadeřábková introduced at the last minute did indeed seem to justify the decision. The problem is that she told the court that she had just received the wiretaps. So what evidence was used to upgrade the charge? It's bad enough for the prosecutor to introduce key evidence at the last minute; it's even worse if she misled the court. Defendants can lie in their own defense, but prosecutors are supposed to be held to a higher standard.