Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca2-14-03878/USCOURTS-ca2-14-03878-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 

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14-3878

Fuentes v. Griffin

1 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

2 FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

3 - - - - - -

4 August Term, 2015

5 (Argued: November 17, 2015 Decided: July 15, 2016)

6 Docket No. 14-3878

7 _________________________________________________________

8 JOSE ALEX FUENTES,

9 Petitioner-Appellant,

10 - v. -

11 T. GRIFFIN, Superintendent,

Respondent-Appellee.

* 12

13 _________________________________________________________

14 Before: KEARSE, STRAUB, and WESLEY, Circuit Judges.

15 Appeal from a judgment of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of

16 New York, Sandra L. Townes, Judge, denying amended petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for

17 habeas corpus on the grounds that the prosecution suppressed a record of the alleged rape victim's

18 psychiatric consultation, in violation of petitioner's due process rights, see Brady v. Maryland, 373

19 U.S. 83 (1963), and that petitioner's trial counsel provided ineffective assistance. The district court

20 denied the petition on the ground that the state courts' rejections of Fuentes's constitutional claims

* The Clerk of Court is directed to amend the official caption to conform with the

above.

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1 were neither contrary to nor unreasonable applications of clearly established federal law. We

2 conclude that Fuentes's petition should have been granted on the ground that the state court's rejection

3 of his Brady claim was an unreasonable application of the materiality standard established by Kyles

4 v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995).

5 Reversed and remanded.

6 Judge Wesley dissents in a separate opinion. 

7 COLLEEN P. CASSIDY, New York, New York (Federal Defenders

8 of New York, Inc., Appeals Bureau, New York, New York, on

9 the brief), for Petitioner-Appellant.

10 AMY APPELBAUM, Assistant District Attorney, Brooklyn, New

11 York (Kenneth P. Thompson, District Attorney of Kings

12 County, Leonard Joblove, Assistant District Attorney,

13 Brooklyn, New York, on the brief), for Respondent-Appellee.

14 KEARSE, Circuit Judge:

15 Petitioner Jose Alex Fuentes, a New York State ("State") prisoner convicted of rape

16 in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree, appeals from a judgment of the United States

17 District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Sandra L. Townes, Judge, denying his amended

18 petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 for a writ of habeas corpus on the grounds that the prosecution

19 suppressed a psychiatric record of an evaluation of the complainant, in violation of Fuentes's due

20 process rights, see Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and that Fuentes's trial counsel rendered

21 ineffective assistance by failing to prepare cross-examination or call expert witnesses to counter

22 expert testimony introduced by the prosecution. The district court denied the petition on the ground

23 that the State courts' rejections of Fuentes's constitutional claims were neither contrary to nor

2

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1 unreasonable applications of clearly established federal law, the standard set by the Antiterrorism and

2 Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 ("AEDPA"). On appeal, Fuentes contends principally that the

3 rejection by the New York Court of Appeals of his Brady claim was an unreasonable application of

4 the materiality standard established by Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995), and that the decision

5 of the Kings County Supreme Court--the highest State court to address his ineffective-assistance-of6 counsel claim on the merits--was an unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S.

7 668 (1984). For the reasons that follow, we conclude, without need to assess the claim of ineffective

8 assistance of counsel, that Fuentes's petition should have been granted with respect to the Brady claim. 

9 The contents of the suppressed psychiatric record provided information with which to impeach the

10 complaining witness and to support the defendant's version of the events. The New York Court of

11 Appeals, as the State concedes, misread the psychiatric record. And although the State argues that

12 the error was harmless, the Court's conclusion that suppression of the document had no prejudicial

13 effect resulted from its lack of understanding of what the psychiatric record stated, along with its

14 failure to balance the evidence in light of the record as a whole and its inability to appreciate the

15 import of the document in the unique context of this case, where (a) the issue was not whether an

16 alleged rapist was the defendant but instead whether what occurred was a rape rather than a sexual

17 encounter in which the complainant participated willingly, (b) the complainant provided the only

18 evidence that what occurred was a crime, and (c) the withheld document was the only evidence by

19 which the defense could have impeached the complainant's credibility as to her mental state. We

20 reverse the decision of the district court and instruct that a new judgment be entered, ordering that

21 Fuentes be released unless the State affords him a new trial within 90 days.

3

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1 I. BACKGROUND

2 The present case arises out of the alleged sexual assault by Fuentes on a woman--

3 referred to herein as "G.C."--on the roof of her apartment building in the early morning hours of

4 January 27, 2002. It is undisputed that Fuentes and G.C. had oral and vaginal intercourse on that roof;

5 but the only persons present were G.C. and Fuentes, and the issue for trial was whether the sex was

6 consensual. As set out in greater detail below, G.C., who was 22 years old in January 2002, testified

7 that in the wee hours of January 27 she had gone to an arcade with friends; that a few hours later she

8 left with the same friends to go home; and that when she exited the subway alone near her home, a

9 stranger--later identified as Fuentes--followed her home, threatened her with a knife, and raped and

10 sodomized her. In contrast, Fuentes, 23 years old in January 2002, testified that he and G.C. had met

11 in a bar at the arcade, hit it off, left together, went to G.C.'s building for the mutual purpose of having

12 sex, and had done so; however, when G.C. suggested that they see each other again and Fuentes

13 demurred, she became angry and self-deprecating and said he would be sorry. The principal issue on

14 this appeal is whether Fuentes was denied a fair trial by the prosecution's nondisclosure of the

15 psychiatric record made with respect to G.C. later on January 27.

16 A. The State's Evidence at Trial

17 The State's trial evidence included G.C.'s medical records and the testimony of several

18 witnesses. In addition to G.C., the State's witnesses included one of the friends who had been with

19 G.C. at the arcade on January 27, two police officers, and expert witnesses.

4

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1 1. G.C.'s Testimony

2 G.C. testified that just after midnight on January 27 she, her friend Tammy Little (or

3 "Tammy"), and Tammy's sister, cousin, and mother were in Manhattan at an arcade in Times Square. 

4 Some three hours later, G.C. and her friends left to go home to Brooklyn by subway. At the

5 appropriate stop, G.C. left the others and switched to a G train to the Flushing Avenue station, near

6 the Marcy Projects where she lived with her mother and three sisters. While walking home from that

7 subway station, G.C. noticed a man--identified at trial as Fuentes--walking behind her.

8 When G.C. entered her building, Fuentes followed her inside. Having "a bad feeling,"

9 G.C. declined to get into the building's elevator with Fuentes, intending to use it after he had used it. 

10 (Trial Transcript ("Tr.") 368-69.) However, when the elevator returned to the ground floor, Fuentes

11 was still inside. He appeared to be exiting, but as G.C. was entering, he pushed her in and followed

12 her; Fuentes put a knife to her neck, and told her, "'don't do nothing stupid or I'll cut you.'" (Id.

13 at 369-70.) They took the elevator to the sixth floor, the top floor and the floor on which G.C.'s

14 apartment was located; they then walked up a flight of stairs to the roof. Once on the roof, Fuentes

15 forced G.C. to engage in oral and vaginal sex. G.C. did not see a condom and did not recall that one

16 was used. (See id. at 375, 426.)

17 They then took the stairs and elevator down, with Fuentes holding his knife to G.C.'s

18 neck. After they exited the building, Fuentes put the knife away, put his arm around G.C.'s shoulders

19 as if she "was his girlfriend," and "asked [G.C.] to walk with him to the train station." (Id. at 377.) 

20 On the way, Fuentes apologized and said "he was going through something." (Id. at 377-78.) Fuentes

21 told G.C. his mother was from Honduras, and G.C. testified that she "must have" told him she too was

22 Honduran. (Id. at 403.) Fuentes told G.C. his name was "Alex." (Id. at 378, 428.)

5

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1 When they arrived at the subway station and went down the stairs, Fuentes took G.C.'s

2 cell phone, powered it down, wiped its surface, and returned it to her. He warned G.C. not to call the

3 police. (See id. at 379.) When Fuentes asked G.C. "'which side goes to Queens?'" she informed him

4 they were on the wrong side; they went back up to the street, and Fuentes crossed to the side on which

5 the G train goes to Queens. (See id.)

6 G.C. watched Fuentes descend toward the Queens-bound platform; she then walked

7 back to her apartment and went to sleep. (See id. at 380-81.) She did not tell her mother she had been

8 raped. Asked why, G.C. responded, "[b]ecause she wouldn't have believed me." (Id. at 381.)

9 When G.C. awoke around noon, she got dressed and went to Tammy's home, where

10 she told Tammy and Tammy's sister and mother that she had been raped. After about an hour, G.C.

11 left and went to Woodhull Hospital and reported that she had been raped. A rape kit was prepared,

12 and hospital personnel informed the police. (See id. at 383.) G.C. described her attacker to the police.

13 2. Testimony of Tammy Little

14 Tammy Little, G.C.'s good friend since high school, testified that she, her mother, and

15 her sister were at the arcade in Times Square with G.C. in the early morning hours of January 27;

16 Tammy testified that the four of them eventually left Manhattan together via subway. (See

17 Tr. 501-02). Tammy did not see Fuentes that night, nor did she see G.C. talk to any men while they

18 were at the arcade. (See id. at 504-05.)

19 Tammy testified that G.C. came to her house in the afternoon on January 27 and told

20 Tammy and Tammy's mother that she had been raped "when she was home, she was going into the

21 building." (Id. at 503.) Tammy testified that G.C. did not provide any other details; she "didn't tell

22 [them] she got raped at knifepoint" (id. at 507):

6

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1 Q. And when she told you she got raped, what did she say to you? 

2 What did she say?

3 A. That was it, that she was raped.

4 (Id.) In response, Tammy and her mother were in shock, did not tell G.C. to call the police, and said

5 nothing. (See id. ("I didn't say anything.").) G.C. departed; Tammy did not know where she went

6 (see id. at 504):

7 Q. So she came in, told you she was raped and just left?

8 A. Yes.

9 (Id. at 508.)

10 3. Police Witness Testimony

11 Police officer Kevin Fedynak and his partner interviewed G.C. at Woodhull Hospital

12 on January 27. Fedynak testified that G.C. described her attacker as a well-dressed "male Hispanic,

13 light skin, about six foot two, 200 pounds, going by the name of Alex." (Tr. 456; see id. at 465.)

14 Police detective Steven Litwin testified that two years later, in January 2004, he was

15 informed that the male DNA collected in G.C.'s rape kit matched that of Fuentes. He arrested Fuentes

16 in June of that year. (See id. at 676-78.)

17 Litwin had interviewed G.C. in September of 2002--her first police interview since

18 January 27, 2002, another detective having made several unsuccessful attempts to interview her in the

19 interim. (See id. at 675-76, 682-83; see also id. at 405-08 (testimony of G.C.).) Litwin testified--after

20 reviewing the record of his September 2002 interview of G.C.--that in describing the January 27

21 events to him, G.C. told him that Fuentes was not on her building's elevator when it returned to the

22 ground floor; instead, she got on the empty elevator alone, but the elevator then stopped at the second

7

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1 floor. (See id. at 684-85.) (G.C., in her testimony, denied having given Litwin this version of the

2 event (see id. at 419-20).)

3 4. Medical and Expert Evidence

4 The record of G.C.'s physical examination at the hospital on January 27 indicated that

5 her appearance was within normal limits, as were her skin, sensory organs, and alertness. (See

6 Tr. 568-71, 573.) The examination did not reveal any bruises, swelling, or lacerations anywhere on

7 her body, or any marks on her neck to indicate any trauma. (See id. at 571-72, 576-77, 586-87 ("no

8 signs of trauma to any" "parts of [G.C.'s] body that were examined").) On "the assumption that she

9 [had been] sexually assaulted," G.C. "was given prophylactic antibiotics for sexually transmitted

10 diseases." (Id. at 565.) The examination had revealed "no external or internal trauma . . . in the pelvic

11 area." (Id. at 564.)

12 The State called two expert witnesses with respect to the effects of rapes on victims. 

13 One, Daniel McSwiggan, was a Woodhull Hospital nurse who was certified in sexual assault forensic

14 examination. McSwiggan, who had not examined G.C., testified that "the absence of visible trauma

15 to [G.C.'s] vaginal area," noted during her January 27 pelvic examination, did not mean that she had

16 not been raped. (Id. at 565-66.)

17 The other, Dr. Eileen Treacy, was a psychologist who also had not examined G.C. She

18 testified that "a recognizable pattern of behavior that is exhibited by victims of sexual assault," called

19 "rape trauma syndrome" (id. at 646), may include delayed reporting of the event. However, rapes by

20 strangers are "reported with higher frequency" than non-stranger rapes. (Id. at 653, 659.)

8

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1 B. Fuentes's Defense

2 Fuentes testified in his own defense and called one additional witness. The latter was

3 Aubry Weekes, a private investigator who was a retired New York City detective and who

4 interviewed G.C. for the defense in February 2005. Weekes testified that G.C. told him she had met

5 Fuentes at the arcade and had left with him; she "[s]aid Mr. Fuentes took her home." (Tr. 711.) (G.C.,

6 in her testimony, denied having told Weekes that she met Fuentes at the arcade (see id. at 430-31).) 

7 Weekes testified that G.C. did not tell him she had left the arcade with Tammy (see id. at 711); she

8 did not tell him she was raped at knifepoint (see id. at 698); she did not tell him she was raped (see

9 id.).

10 Fuentes testified that in the early morning hours of January 27, 2002, he and two

11 friends were at the arcade in Times Square, and there he met G.C. in the bar on the second floor. (See

12 id. at 716-18.) Fuentes told G.C. his name was "Alex Fuentes" (id. at 759); he testified that he is

13 called "Alex" although his first name is "Jose," because all of the males in his family have the first

14 name Jose and they all go by their middle names (id. at 716). Fuentes testified that he and G.C.

15 conversed, discussing school, their jobs, their birthdays, their shared connection to Honduras, music,

16 and the Honduran singer "Lisa Left Eye Lopez" [sic]. (Id. at 719-20.)

17 Around 4 a.m., Fuentes said he was leaving; G.C. said she was leaving too, and

18 Fuentes suggested that they go to a place near where he lived in Queens, or to his apartment. He and

19 G.C. left the arcade together, taking the R train to Queens, and engaging in kissing, heavy petting, and

20 giggling en route (see id. at 742, 744). However, when Fuentes mentioned that they would need to

21 be quiet in his apartment because a relative was living with him, G.C. told him that "she had a better

22 spot [for them] to go to." (Id. at 723.) Fuentes and G.C. changed trains at Queens Plaza and took the

23 G train to the Flushing Avenue stop. G.C. led Fuentes from the subway station to her apartment

9

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1 building, where she took him to the roof. Once on the roof, Fuentes and G.C. engaged in oral and

2 vaginal intercourse. Fuentes stated that he put on a condom prior to the vaginal intercourse, but that

3 it broke during the act; in the heat of the moment, with G.C.'s encouragement, he continued without

4 one.

5 When they were done, Fuentes asked G.C. how to get back to the subway, and she

6 offered to walk with him. (See id. at 754-55.) On the way, G.C. suggested that the two of them "go

7 to South Street Seaport and basically hang out again." (Id. at 755.) Fuentes, however, preoccupied

8 with thoughts of the need to get an STD test because he had had unprotected sex with someone he had

9 just met, did not immediately respond. G.C. asked Fuentes if he was listening to her and pointed out

10 that he had not yet asked for her phone number. When Fuentes suggested that they just "'leave things

11 the way they are,'" G.C. asked if Fuentes thought she was "'a ho.'" (Id. at 757.) Fuentes assured G.C.

12 that he was not judging her, but reiterated that it was a "'one-night stand'" and that he would like to

13 "'leave it at that.'" (Id.) Now upset, G.C. told Fuentes that he must think she was "'a ho'" and that he

14 was "'going to be sorry.'" (Id. at 757-58.) Fuentes testified that G.C. was so vehement that a subway

15 employee in the booth looked up at them. Because G.C. "was acting erratic" and seemed "unstable,"

16 Fuentes told G.C. that he was leaving and did not want her phone number. (Id. at 758.) When he

17 walked away, G.C. cursed at him.

18 C. The Undisclosed Psychiatric Record

19 While in the middle of his closing argument, Fuentes's attorney was leafing through

20 the trial exhibits, including the medical records the State had introduced. He discovered among G.C.'s

21 medical records a page--titled "Record of Consultation"--that the prosecution had not produced to the

22 defense. The Record of Consultation (or "ROC") disclosed that when G.C. was at Woodhull Hospital

10

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1 on January 27 having reported she had been raped, she had a psychiatric consultation. In pertinent

2 part, the Record of Consultation reads as follows:

3 [G.C.] is a 22 y-o Black female, single, living w/ mothe[r], working in

4 McDonalds x 2m, reporting depression x 2y and ideas of killing herself since

5 then, because she has "family problems" feeling mistreated by mother,

6 frequent crying spells, withdrawn, lack of energy - Now, she feels angry at

7 herself "because she went home late and put herself a[t] risk" - Fair sleep - She

8 has no SI currently and her depression is "as usual"

9 -PPH: (-) - Substance Abuse Hx: Marijuana use x 2, last y

10 -PMH: Asthma - LMP: 1/02

11 -MSE: A + 0 x3, mood depressed, denies S/H ideations or A/V hallucinations,

12 no delusions elicited.

13 IMP: I Dysthymic Disorder: Pt wants someone to talk to about her problems. -

14 Cannabis Abuse.

15 Suggest: Refer to Psych Clinic upon D/C.

16 (Court Exhibit A-1 (emphases added).)

17 Upon discovering the previously undisclosed Record of Consultation, Fuentes's

18 attorney requested a sidebar, and he later moved for a mistrial on the ground that the nondisclosure

19 of the ROC constituted a Brady due process violation. Fuentes's attorney had been assured by the

20 prosecutor that all of G.C.'s medical records had been turned over (see, e.g., Tr. 843-44), and yet the

21 defense had not been given the Record of Consultation (see, e.g., id. at 844-45). He argued that the

22 cross-examination he could have conducted if he had known of the ROC "would have had a major

23 effect on th[e] jury's opinion of [G.C.'s] credibility in this case." (Id. at 847.) Further, G.C.'s mental

24 health history as shown in the ROC would have substantiated Fuentes's account of G.C.'s erratic

25 behavior at the subway station, and thus supported Fuentes's version of the events. (See, e.g., id.

26 at 863-64.) Counsel also pointed out that during her trial testimony, G.C. "broke down on the stand

27 and cried many times. And the jury could have very easily been led to believe the reason she was

28 crying was the result of this incident. Now, after looking at this psych. record, we find she was crying

29 well before the events of that evening . . . ." (Id. at 851.)

11

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1 The prosecutor admitted to the judge that she had intentionally withheld the Record

2 of Consultation from discovery but stated that she did so out of concern for psychiatrist-patient

3 privilege. The court admonished the prosecutor for failing to at least disclose the document to the

4 court to obtain a ruling on discoverability; it reserved judgment on Fuentes's mistrial motion until

5 after return of the verdict.

6 The jury, on its second day of deliberations, found Fuentes guilty of first-degree rape

7 and first-degree sodomy. The court did not grant a mistrial, having concluded (see id. at 866-67) that

8 the Record of Consultation was not Brady evidence because the document did not contain anything

9 exculpatory. After denying a posttrial motion to set aside the verdict because of the asserted Brady

10 violation, inter alia, the court sentenced Fuentes principally to 25 years' imprisonment.

11 D. The State-Court Appeals

12 Fuentes appealed his conviction, renewing his contention, inter alia, that the State's

13 deliberate suppression of the Record of Consultation constituted a Brady violation that denied him

14 a fair trial. The Appellate Division affirmed, stating that "[w]hile the People unquestionably have a

15 duty to disclose exculpatory material in their control, a defendant's constitutional right to a fair trial

16 is not violated when, as here, he is given a meaningful opportunity to use the allegedly exculpatory

17 material to cross-examine the People's witnesses or as evidence during his case . . . ." People v.

18 Fuentes, 48 A.D.3d 479, 479, 851 N.Y.S.2d 628, 628 (2d Dep't 2008), aff'd on other grounds, 12

19 N.Y.3d 259, 879 N.Y.S.2d 373 (2009).

20 The New York Court of Appeals, in a 5-2 decision, affirmed, concluding that "the

21 undisclosed document is not material," and that therefore, "the People's nondisclosure, while ill22 advised, does not constitute a Brady violation." People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 260, 879 N.Y.S.2d

12

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1 at 374. The Court of Appeals majority (or "Majority") recognized that although all of G.C.'s medical

2 records had supposedly been disclosed to the defense pursuant to the State's open-file discovery

3 agreement, and they were all introduced in evidence by the State during its direct case, the Record of

4 Consultation, made by a hospital psychiatrist who interviewed G.C. on January 27, had been withheld

5 from discovery. See id. at 261-62, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 375. Thus, "[u]naware of its existence, defense

6 counsel did not cross-examine any of the People's witnesses regarding the information contained in

7 the consultation note." Id. at 262, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 375. The Majority stated that

8 [t]he Due Process Clauses of the Federal and State Constitutions both

9 guarantee a criminal defendant the right to discover favorable evidence in the

10 People's possession material to guilt or punishment (see Brady, 373 US

11 at 87-88; People v Bryce, 88 NY2d 124, 128 [1996]). Impeachment evidence

12 falls within the ambit of a prosecutor's Brady obligation (see Giglio v United

13 States, 405 US 150, 154-155 [1972]). To establish a Brady violation, a

14 defendant must show that (1) the evidence is favorable to the defendant

15 because it is either exculpatory or impeaching in nature; (2) the evidence was

16 suppressed by the prosecution; and (3) prejudice arose because the suppressed

17 evidence was material (see Strickler v Greene, 527 US 263, 281-282 [1999]).

18 People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 263, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 376 (emphases added).

19 The Court noted that, under New York law, if the accused has "ma[de] a specific

20 request for a document" that is withheld, the appropriate standard to measure materiality is whether

21 there is "a reasonable possibility" that the failure to disclose the exculpatory evidence contributed to

22 the verdict. Id., 879 N.Y.S.2d at 376 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Majority assumed the

23 applicability to Fuentes of the "reasonable possibility" standard--a burden lower than the federal

24 standard of "reasonable probability," see People v. Vilardi, 76 N.Y.2d 67, 72, 75-77, 556 N.Y.S.2d

25 518, 520, 522-23 (1990) (internal quotation marks omitted) (emphases in Vilardi)--but concluded that

26 Fuentes had not shown materiality, as it found that the document would have been more valuable to

27 the prosecution than the defense:

13

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1 [D]isclosure of this one-page document would not have altered the outcome

2 of the case. Significantly, the document notes that the victim was upset

3 because she placed herself in danger when she walked home from the train by

4 herself in the early morning hours preceding her attack. That information

5 would have undoubtedly strengthened the People's case by corroborating the

6 victim's testimony that she walked home alone when defendant accosted her

7 at knifepoint.

8 People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 263-64, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 376-77 (footnote omitted) (emphases

9 added). In concluding that the document's value to the defense, in contrast, would have been "at best,

10 minimal," the Court stated that

11 [a]lthough the document notes that the victim had experienced suicidal

12 thoughts, it is unclear whether these thoughts were the result of having been

13 raped only hours earlier, or due to more general feelings of depression,

14 stemming from a strained relationship with her mother. Further, the record of

15 consultation does not note that the victim was suffering from any serious

16 psychiatric conditions creating hallucinations or delusions; in fact it indicates

17 that the victim had no previous psychiatric history. . . .

18 Defendant argues that the statement in the document noting the victim's

19 "cannabis abuse" would have changed the outcome of the case. The report

20 explains that the victim only used marijuana twice during the past year, and

21 nowhere does it state that she took any other substances that could have

22 seriously impacted or impaired her perceptions of reality. Therefore, in the

23 context of this case, the value of the undisclosed information as admissible

24 impeachment evidence would have been, at best, minimal.

25 Id. at 264, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377 (emphases added). The Court stated further that

26 defendant's version of events was contradicted in several key respects. The

27 friend's testimony refuted defendant's version because she testified that the

28 victim left Manhattan and boarded a train with her and her family without

29 defendant ever being present. Further, the victim testified in specific detail

30 regarding how defendant took steps to avoid apprehension, including turning

31 her cell phone off and wiping it clean of fingerprints. It is also contrary to

32 common sense to believe that the victim would have invented a rape and

33 subjected herself to an invasive hospital examination in the hope of getting

34 revenge for defendant's supposed refusal of her advances. She did not have a

35 way of leading the police to defendant, or any reason to be confident he would

36 ever be caught; he was not identified until the DNA match was found years

37 later.

38 Id. at 264-65, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377 (emphases added).

14

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1 The Majority concluded that disclosure of the Record of Consultation "would not have

2 changed the outcome of the trial," and hence did not meet the Brady materiality standard because of

3 what the Majority viewed as the "strength of the People's case," "the implausibility of defendant's

4 version of [the] events," and the "document's extremely limited utility as impeachment evidence." 

5 Id. at 265, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377.

6 E. The Federal Habeas Proceedings

7 In 2011, Fuentes, proceeding pro se, timely commenced the present habeas case,

8 raising multiple constitutional claims. In 2012, following exhaustion of his claims in state court, the

9 district court appointed counsel to represent him, and the amended habeas petition was filed, asserting

10 only the Brady claim and a Sixth Amendment claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Both claims

11 were rejected by the district court.

12 The magistrate judge to whom the district court referred Fuentes's petition for report

13 and recommendation recommended that the petition be granted on the ground that the New York

14 Court of Appeals unreasonably applied the materiality standard for Brady claims set by the Supreme

15 Court in Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419. The magistrate judge concluded principally that the New

16 York Court of Appeals majority erred (a) in not realizing that the Record of Consultation stated that

17 G.C. had been in a state of depression for two years, (b) in apparently not recognizing that the

18 prosecution's failure to produce this document deprived Fuentes of the opportunity to investigate and

19 cross-examine G.C. with regard to her mental health history, and (c) in unreasonably discounting the

20 importance of this impeachment material, given that G.C.'s testimony was the only inculpating

21 evidence.

15

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1 The district court, in a Memorandum and Order dated September 30, 2014 ("D.Ct.

2 Ord."), denied habeas, rejecting the recommendation to grant the writ on the basis of the Brady claim. 

3 Although agreeing with the magistrate judge that the New York Court of Appeals misread the Record

4 of Consultation with respect to the duration of G.C.'s depression, the district court concluded that "it

5 was not clearly established by federal law that the information contained in the ROC was material for

6 Brady purposes," D.Ct. Ord. at 10-11, because "[t]he Supreme Court has not addressed whether

7 mental health information such as the type contained in the ROC is considered 'material' for Brady

8 purposes," id. at 12. The district court also stated that the Record of Consultation in no way suggested

9 that G.C. was unable to accurately and truthfully perceive and recall events. Id.

10 II. DISCUSSION

11 Fuentes moved in this Court for a certificate of appealability, arguing that the New

12 York Court of Appeals' rejection of his Brady claim was an unreasonable application of federal law,

13 and that the State Supreme Court's rejection of his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim was an

14 unreasonable application of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668. This Court granted the motion. 

15 As we now conclude that the writ should have been granted on the basis of the Brady claim, awarding

16 Fuentes release or a new trial, we do not further address his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel.

17 A. AEDPA Principles

18 To the extent pertinent here, AEDPA provides that "with respect to any claim that was

19 adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings," a federal court may not grant a state prisoner's

20 petition for habeas corpus relief unless the state court's adjudication of the claim

16

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1 resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable

2 application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme

3 Court of the United States,

4 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)(1) (emphases added). "'[C]learly established Federal law' under § 2254(d)(1)"

5 refers to "the governing legal principle or principles set forth by the Supreme Court at the time the

6 state court renders its decision." Lockyer v. Andrade, 538 U.S. 63, 71-72 (2003) ("Andrade").

7 A state-court decision is "contrary to" clearly established federal law "'if the state court

8 applies a rule that contradicts the governing law set forth in [the Supreme Court's] cases' or 'if the state

9 court confronts a set of facts that are materially indistinguishable from a decision of th[e Supreme]

10 Court and nevertheless arrives at a result different from [Supreme Court] precedent.'" Id. at 73

11 (quoting Williams [Terry] v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362, 405-06 (2000) ("Williams [Terry]")). A state12 court decision is an "unreasonable application of" clearly established federal law "'if the state court

13 identifies the correct governing legal principle from th[e Supreme] Court's decisions but unreasonably

14 applies that principle to the facts of the prisoner's case.'" Andrade, 538 U.S. at 75 (quoting Williams

15 [Terry], 529 U.S. at 413).

16 In order to hold that a state court's adjudication constituted "an unreasonable

17 application of" a Supreme Court holding, a federal court must find more than just "that the relevant

18 state-court decision applied clearly established federal law erroneously or incorrectly," Williams

19 [Terry], 529 U.S. at 411, for "the purpose of AEDPA is to ensure that federal habeas relief functions

20 . . . not as a means of error correction," but rather "as a 'guard against extreme malfunctions in the

21 state criminal justice systems,'" Greene v. Fisher, 132 S. Ct. 38, 43 (2011) (quoting Harrington v.

22 Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 102 (2011) ("Richter") (other internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, "[r]elief

23 is available under § 2254(d)(1) only if the state court's decision is objectively unreasonable." 

24 Yarborough v. Alvarado, 541 U.S. 652, 665 (2004) ("Alvarado"); see, e.g., Williams [Terry], 529 U.S.

25 at 410-13; Andrade, 538 U.S. at 75.

17

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1 Ultimately, "[a]s a condition for obtaining habeas corpus from a federal court, a state

2 prisoner must show that the state court's ruling on the claim being presented in federal court was so

3 lacking in justification that there was an error well understood and comprehended in existing law

4 beyond any possibility for fairminded disagreement." Richter, 562 U.S. at 103. In applying this

5 principle, we bear in mind that

6 the range of reasonable judgment can depend in part on the nature of the

7 relevant rule. If a legal rule is specific, the range may be narrow. Applications

8 of the rule may be plainly correct or incorrect. Other rules are more general,

9 and their meaning must emerge in application over the course of time. 

10 Applying a general standard to a specific case can demand a substantial

11 element of judgment. As a result, evaluating whether a rule application was

12 unreasonable requires considering the rule's specificity. The more general the

13 rule, the more leeway courts have in reaching outcomes in case-by-case

14 determinations.

15 Alvarado, 541 U.S. at 664. But "[c]ertain principles are fundamental enough that when new factual

16 permutations arise, the necessity to apply the earlier rule will be beyond doubt." Id. at 666.

17 B. Due Process and the Prosecutorial Duty of Disclosure

18 The due process principles applicable here are well and clearly established. "The

19 prosecution[ has an] affirmative duty to disclose evidence favorable to a defendant . . . ." Kyles, 514

20 U.S. at 432. That duty

21 can trace its origins to early 20th-century strictures against misrepresentation

22 and is of course most prominently associated with th[e Supreme] Court's

23 decision in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). See id., at 86 (relying on

24 Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103, 112 (1935), and Pyle v. Kansas, 317 U.S.

25 213, 215-216 (1942)).

26 Kyles, 514 U.S. at 432. The contours of the duty have progressively been refined. In Brady, the

27 Supreme Court held "that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon

18

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1 request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment,

2 irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution." 373 U.S. at 87. In United States v.

3 Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 107 (1976), the Court held that the duty to disclose such evidence is applicable

4 irrespective of whether the accused made a request. In United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 676

5 (1985), the Court held that the duty to disclose exists irrespective of whether the information bears

6 on the defendant's innocence or a witness's impeachment. And if the withheld evidence contains

7 material for impeachment, it falls within the Brady principles even if it may also be inculpatory: "Our

8 cases make clear that Brady's disclosure requirements extend to materials that, whatever their other

9 characteristics, may be used to impeach a witness." Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 282 n.21

10 (1999); see, e.g., Bagley, 473 U.S. at 676.

11 However, the withholding of such evidence does not violate the accused's due process

12 right unless the evidence is "material," in the sense that "there is a reasonable probability that, had the

13 evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different." Id.

14 at 682. In Banks v. Dretke, 540 U.S. 668 (2004), the Supreme Court stated,

15 [o]ur touchstone on materiality is Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419 (1995). 

16 Kyles instructed that the materiality standard for Brady claims is met when

17 "the favorable evidence could reasonably be taken to put the whole case in

18 such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict." 514 U.S.,

19 at 435.

20 Banks, 540 U.S. at 698 (emphases ours). Thus, the Brady materiality

21 question is not whether the defendant would more likely than not have

22 received a different verdict with the evidence, but whether in its absence he

23 received a fair trial, understood as a trial resulting in a verdict worthy of

24 confidence. A "reasonable probability" of a different result is accordingly

25 shown when the government's evidentiary suppression "undermines confidence

26 in the outcome of the trial." Bagley, 473 U.S., at 678.

27 Kyles, 514 U.S. at 434 (emphases ours). The "defendant need not demonstrate that after discounting

28 the inculpatory evidence in light of the undisclosed evidence, there would not have been enough left

19

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1 to convict." Id. at 434-435. He need only show, considering the record as a whole, a "reasonable

2 probability"--and "the adjective is important," id. at 434 (internal quotation marks omitted) (emphasis

3 ours)--of a different result great enough to "undermine[] confidence" that the jury would have found

4 him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

5 In Strickler, in which the petitioner had been convicted of capital murder, one issue

6 at trial was the identity of the robbers/murderers, and evidence for impeachment of an eyewitness to

7 the robbery had been suppressed. The Supreme Court noted that there was "considerable forensic and

8 other physical evidence linking petitioner to the crime," including: the petitioner's fingerprints on the

9 inside and outside of the victim's car; "shoe impressions," near where the victim's body was found,

10 "match[ing] the soles of shoes belonging to petitioner"; a bag at petitioner's mother's house containing

11 identification cards belonging to the victim; and hairs near the victim's body that "were

12 microscopically alike in all identifiable characteristics to petitioner's hair." Strickler, 527 U.S. at 293

13 & n.41, 268-69 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Strickler Court approved the rejection of the

14 petitioner's Brady claim because it was "not convinced . . . that there [wa]s a reasonable probability

15 that the jury would have returned a different verdict" if the testimony of the eyewitness in question

16 "had been either severely impeached or excluded entirely." Id. at 296. In sum, "in Strickler,

17 considerable forensic and other physical evidence link[ed] [the defendant] to the crime and supported

18 the capital murder conviction," Banks, 540 U.S. at 701 (internal quotation marks omitted), and "[t]he

19 witness whose impeachment was at issue in Strickler gave testimony that was in the main

20 cumulative," id. at 700. "In contrast" in Banks, the Court's confidence in the verdict was undermined

21 where the testimony of the witness who could have been impeached by the withheld evidence was

22 "the centerpiece" of the relevant phase of the prosecution's case. Id. at 701.

20

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1 With these principles in mind, and reviewing the decision of the district court de novo,

2 see, e.g., Contreras v. Artus, 778 F.3d 97, 106 (2d Cir. 2015), we conclude (1) that the district court

3 erred in ruling that federal law as set forth by the Supreme Court did not sufficiently clearly establish

4 that records as to a witness's mental health may be Brady material, and (2) that the decision of the

5 New York Court of Appeals was an unreasonable application of the above Brady standards.

6 C. The Applicability of Brady to Available Psychiatric Records as Clearly Established by the

7 Supreme Court of the United States

8 The district court ruled that AEDPA precludes habeas relief to Fuentes on his Brady

9 claim on the ground that the United States Supreme Court has not sufficiently clearly addressed

10 whether records as to a witness's mental health, such as the Record of Consultation here showing

11 G.C.'s depression and Dysthymic Disorder, may properly be considered Brady material. We disagree. 

12 Based on clearly established fundamental rights and principles, we think it indisputable that if the

13 prosecution has a witness's psychiatric records that are favorable to the accused because they provide

14 material for impeachment, those records fall within Brady principles, and that the Supreme Court has

15 so recognized.

16 The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment, made applicable to the states by

17 the Fourteenth Amendment, see Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 403-06 (1965), guarantees the

18 defendant in a criminal prosecution the right to confront the witnesses against him. This "means more

19 than being allowed to confront the witness physically," for "[t]he main and essential purpose of

20 confrontation is to secure for the opponent the opportunity of cross-examination," Davis v. Alaska,

21 415 U.S. 308, 315-16 (1974) (internal quotation marks and emphasis omitted), and "the cross22 examiner has traditionally been allowed to impeach, i.e., discredit, the witness," id. at 316.

21

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1 In particular, a witness's "credibility" may be attacked "by means of cross-examination

2 directed toward revealing possible biases, prejudices, or ulterior motives of the witness as they may

3 relate directly to issues or personalities in the case at hand." Id. (emphases added); see, e.g., United

4 States v. Abel, 469 U.S. 45, 52 (1984) ("[b]ias is a term used . . . to describe the relationship between

5 a party and a witness which might lead the witness to slant, unconsciously or otherwise, his testimony

6 in favor of or against a party" (emphasis added)). Cross-examination is especially "important where

7 the evidence consists of the testimony of individuals whose memory might be faulty or who, in fact,

8 might be perjurers or persons motivated by malice, vindictiveness, intolerance, prejudice, or

9 jealousy." Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 474, 496 (1959) (emphases added). "A successful showing

10 of bias on the part of a witness would have a tendency to make the facts to which he testified less

11 probable in the eyes of the jury than it would be without such testimony." Abel, 469 U.S. at 51.

12 These principles are sufficiently fundamental that their applicability to available

13 psychiatric evidence raising questions about the witness's biases and the reliability of his or her

14 testimony is beyond doubt. In Williams [Michael] v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 420 (2000) ("Williams

15 [Michael]"), one of the Supreme Court's earliest opinions exploring AEDPA, the Court dealt with a

16 habeas claim that "the prosecution had violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), in failing to

17 disclose a report of a . . . psychiatric examination" of Jeffrey Alan Cruse, the petitioner's collaborator

18 in robbery and murder who was the main witness against the petitioner at trial. Williams [Michael],

19 529 U.S. at 427. The report described Cruse as having feelings of worthlessness and constant suicidal

20 thoughts, see id. at 439; and at Cruse's sentencing, his attorney cited the report's statement that Cruse

21 was suffering from, inter alia, severe depression, see id. at 438. There was no question that the

22 prosecution's failure to disclose the psychiatric report could be a proper basis for a habeas petition

23 under Brady: The Supreme Court noted that when Cruse was sentenced, there were "repeated

22

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1 references to a 'psychiatric' or 'mental health' report in [the sentencing] transcript . . . . with details that

2 should have alerted counsel to a possible Brady claim." Id. (emphases added).

3 Rather, the question facing the Supreme Court was whether, under AEDPA, the

4 petitioner could be given a federal-court evidentiary hearing on the claim, see 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(2)

5 (limiting the right to such a hearing "[i]f the applicant has failed to develop the factual basis of a claim

6 in State court proceedings"). The Supreme Court noted that although "[t]he transcript put petitioner's

7 state habeas counsel on notice of the report's existence and possible materiality," Williams [Michael],

8 529 U.S. at 439--indeed, "state habeas counsel" had "attached [a copy of the transcript] to the state

9 habeas petition he filed," id. at 438--"[p]etitioner did not develop, or raise, . . . the prosecution's

10 alleged Brady violation regarding Cruse's psychiatric report until he filed his federal habeas petition,"

11 id. at 429. The Court thus concluded that Williams was not entitled to an evidentiary hearing because

12 he had "not exercise[d] the diligence required to preserve the claim that nondisclosure of Cruse's

13 psychiatric report was in contravention of Brady." Williams [Michael], 529 U.S. at 437-38.

14 We think it beyond doubt that the Supreme Court recognizes the application of Brady

15 principles to a witness's psychiatric records, possessed by the prosecution, that may be used to

16 impeach his credibility, particularly where, as here, the witness's testimony is the only evidence that

17 there was in fact a crime and the State's other evidence is not strong enough to sustain confidence in

18 the verdict.

19 D. The Decision of the New York Court of Appeals

20 Although the New York Court of Appeals recognized that Brady principles are

21 applicable to impeachment evidence in available psychiatric records, we conclude that its ultimate

22 determination in this case--that the suppression of the Record of Consultation was not prejudicial--

23 constituted an unreasonable application of Supreme Court principles for several reasons.

23

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1 First, a materiality analysis requires a careful, balanced examination of the nature and

2 strength of the evidence presented, as well as an evaluation of the potential impact of the evidence on

3 the witness's credibility. Entirely missing from the Majority's reasoning is any analysis of how the

4 ROC might have benefited the defense. That failure was due in large part to the fact that the Court

5 of Appeals' assessment of the Record of Consultation itself was fundamentally flawed because the

6 Majority misread the document. The Majority found that the psychiatric record had "extremely

7 limited utility as impeachment evidence," People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 265, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377,

8 believing that it was "unclear" that G.C.'s suicidal thoughts mentioned in that document were not

9 simply "the result of having been raped only hours earlier," id. at 264, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377. However,

10 the Record of Consultation stated precisely that G.C. "report[ed] depression x 2y and ideas of killing

11 herself since then" (Court Exhibit A-1 (emphases added)), and the State concedes that "x 2y" means

12 extending for "two years" (State's brief on appeal at 48 ("Fuentes is correct that New York Court of

13 Appeals mistakenly concluded that the record of consultation was unclear as to whether the

14 complainant's suicidal thoughts were present before the incident . . . . [T]he record of consultation

15 shows that her suicidal thoughts were present as early as two years before the incident.")).

16 Thus, the suppressed psychiatric record stated unambiguously that on January 27,

17 2002, G.C. told the hospital psychiatrist that she had been depressed and suicidal for two years. This

18 information was consistent with the Record of Consultation's notation of "Dysthymic Disorder" (Court

19 Exhibit A-1), a condition whose "essential feature," according to the American Psychiatric

20 Association's Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) ("DSM-IV")--

21 which is "an objective authority on the subject of mental disorders," Fuller v. J.P. Morgan Chase &

22 Co., 423 F.3d 104, 107 (2d Cir. 2005)--is a "chronically depressed mood that occurs for most of the

23 day more days than not for at least 2 years," DSM-IV at 345, with symptoms that may include "low

24

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1 self-esteem," id. at 345, 347. Among "the most commonly encountered symptoms in Dysthymic

2 Disorder may be feelings of inadequacy" and "excessive anger," id. at 346; and the "chronic mood

3 symptoms may contribute to interpersonal problems or be associated with distorted self-perception,"

4 id. at 347.

5 Thus, while the Court of Appeals majority, not recognizing the actual content of the

6 psychiatric record, viewed its impeachment value as "at best, minimal," the information as to G.C.'s

7 chronic depression and Dysthymic Disorder would have, inter alia, provided a way to cross-examine

8 G.C. as to her mental state, and potentially corroborated Fuentes's account of her behavior as

9 "unstable" and "erratic" when he declined to see her again, to wit, being angry and volubly upset at

10 being rejected. (Tr. 757-58.) And, importantly, timely disclosure of the ROC would have provided

11 defense counsel with an opportunity to seek an expert opinion with regard to the ROC's indication of

12 other significant symptoms, in order to establish reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors because

13 of G.C.'s predisposition toward emotional instability and retaliation--an opinion he was able to obtain

14 after he eventually learned of the psychiatric record but not in time to present it to the jury.

15 In short, given the Majority's inaccurate reading of the ROC, its application of the

16 Brady principles to the instant case was objectively unreasonable because of its inability to make a

17 reasonable assessment of the benefits to the defense of exploring G.C.'s mental state as revealed in

18 the ROC.

19 Second, the Majority also found that suppression of the Record of Consultation did not

20 result in prejudice in part because of "the strength of the People's case," stating that Fuentes's version

21 of the events was "implausib[le]," People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 265, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377, and

22 "was contradicted in several key respects," id. at 264, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377. This did not reflect a

23 careful, balanced, or fair examination of the nature and strength of the evidence presented, for it both

25

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1 overstated the strength of the State's case and disregarded evidence that supported the plausibility of

2 Fuentes's version.

3 Contrary to the Majority's depiction, the State's other evidence was not overwhelming. 

4 In only one respect was Fuentes's version contradicted by evidence other than the testimony of G.C.

5 herself. As there was no disagreement that intercourse in fact occurred, the presence of semen in

6 G.C.'s vagina did not contradict Fuentes's version. As the State's DNA expert testified, "there isn't"

7 a test for whether a sexual encounter was "consensual" (Tr. 618-19); "[a]ll I can tell you is his semen

8 is present" (id. at 619).

9 Nor did the other medical evidence contradict Fuentes's version, for there was no

10 affirmative scientific evidence that force had been used against G.C. The hospital examination

11 revealed no trauma or abnormality, external or internal, in G.C.'s pelvic area--or indeed anywhere on

12 her body. Instead, the State's expert medical evidence consisted of testimony that the "absence" of

13 trauma (and the lack of a prompt rape report) did not mean that there had not been rape.

14 Tammy Little's testimony that G.C. left Manhattan with Tammy and family was the

15 only evidence, other than G.C.'s own testimony, that contradicted Fuentes's version of the events. As

16 the Court of Appeals dissenters noted, credibility was central; and indeed, the jury, during its

17 deliberations, requested rereading of the testimonies of various witnesses, including Tammy (see

18 Tr. 859, 872). If the jury had also had before it the information from G.C.'s psychiatric record that

19 was consistent with Fuentes's testimony, it could well have questioned the credibility of Tammy,

20 especially in light of her description of G.C. as coming to Tammy's home and announcing--without

21 detail--that she had been raped (see id. at 507 (Tammy's testimony that G.C. said "that she was raped";

22 "[t]hat was it"); id. at 508 ("she came in, told [us] she was raped and just left"))--and of the response

23 of Tammy and her mother, doing nothing and saying nothing (id. at 507).

26

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1 The only other evidence that the Court of Appeals could cite as contradicting Fuentes's

2 version of the events was the testimony of G.C. herself. The Majority cited Strickler in mentioning

3 the materiality element of a Brady claim; but this case was nothing like Strickler, where there was

4 ample forensic evidence on the key issue (see, e.g., Part II.B. above) and the testimony of the witness

5 in question was cumulative. Here, there was no forensic evidence of rape; G.C.'s testimony was the

6 sine qua non of the State's case. Without her testimony, there could be no prosecution at all. The

7 Majority could not properly conclude that the suppression of evidence impeaching G.C. would be of

8 little value because of G.C.'s own testimony.

9 This is particularly so in light of several significant red flags in G.C.'s testimony, which

10 were nowhere adverted to in the Majority's opinion. For example, the Majority did not mention that

11 G.C. admitted on cross-examination that she had shared some of her personal details with Fuentes,

12 including her Honduran descent and probably her birthday (see Tr. 402-03). That testimony could

13 be viewed in a different light had the jury been aware of the ROC. In addition, there were aspects of

14 G.C.'s trial testimony describing the event that were contrary to what other witnesses testified G.C.

15 had told them. For example, she testified at trial that Fuentes pushed her into the elevator on the

16 ground floor (id. at 369-70); but Detective Litwin testified that G.C., when interviewed, told him that

17 when the elevator returned to the ground floor it was empty, that she got in, but then it stopped on the

18 second floor (see id. at 684-85; but see id. at 419-20 (G.C. denying that she had given Litwin that

19 version)). Further, G.C. testified that Fuentes had taken her cell phone, powered it down, and used

20 his sleeve to wipe it clean of his fingerprints after they went into the subway station (see Tr. 379); but

21 Officer Fedynak testified that when he and his partner interviewed G.C. on January 27, she had not

22 described that action as taking place in the subway; instead, G.C. told them Fuentes took her phone

23 and wiped it off in the elevator on the way down after she and Fuentes had left the roof (see id.

27

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1 at 465)--action that would seem to have been impossible if, as G.C. testified at trial (see id. at 376-77),

2 he was holding a knife to her neck during that entire time. In addition, Weekes, a retired police

3 detective, testified that G.C. told him (though at trial she denied so telling him (see id. at 430-31)) that

4 she had met Fuentes at the arcade, and that Fuentes "took her home" (id. at 711). Nor is it clear how

5 Fuentes would have known to take G.C. to the roof of her building, had he just been a stranger

6 following her home.

7 Lastly, in assessing Fuentes's version of the events as implausible, the Majority made

8 no mention whatever of the fact that Fuentes told G.C. his name. G.C. testified that he told her his

9 name was "Alex" (Tr. 378, 428); she so informed the police officers who interviewed her at the

10 hospital (see id. at 456 (testimony of Officer Fedynak)); and Fuentes testified he had told her his name

11 (see id. at 759). It was thus beyond dispute that Fuentes told G.C. his name; what was in dispute was

12 where and when that occurred. And, as an objective matter, it seems more plausible that he would

13 have told her his name when meeting and talking with her in a bar than after stalking her from the

14 subway and raping her.

15 The Majority thus significantly overstated the strength of the State's case, and it

16 concluded unreasonably that Fuentes's version of the events was "contrary to common sense," People

17 v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 265, 879 N.Y.S.2d at 377. At trial, the jury deliberated for two days

18 considering which version to accept, asking for, inter alia, read-backs of the testimonies of G.C.,

19 Fuentes, and Tammy. As the Court of Appeals dissenters noted, "the issue of credibility was central

20 to the jury's consideration of the case," id. at 266, 879 N.Y.S. 2d at 378. See United States v. Gil, 297

21 F.3d 93, 104 (2d Cir. 2002) (noting, where the key "question hinged on credibility," that the jury's

22 "struggl[e]" with that question--evinced by its request for read-backs of testimony--was relevant to

23 the determination of materiality). Accordingly, far from evaluating the "trial testimony as a whole,"

28

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1 People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 264 n.*, 879 N.Y.S. 2d at 376 n.*, the Majority ignored substantial

2 aspects of the testimony, thereby overstating the strength of the State's case, and in so doing failed to

3 make a reasonable assessment of how the ROC could benefit the defense.

4 Third, the Majority's assessment of the Record of Consultation as having "at best,

5 minimal" value was based in part on its view that the ROC would have "strengthened" the State's case

6 by corroborating G.C.'s testimony that she had walked home from the subway alone. Id. at 264, 879

7 N.Y.S.2d at 376-77. But reliance on potentially inculpatory aspects of the suppressed document is

8 not a proper application of Brady principles. See, e.g., Strickler, 527 U.S. at 282 n.21 (rejecting the

9 prosecution's contention that documents were not Brady material because they were "inculpatory,"

10 stating that "[o]ur cases make clear that Brady's disclosure requirements extend to materials that,

11 whatever their other characteristics, may be used to impeach a witness" (internal quotation marks

12 omitted)).

13 Finally, the Majority failed to consider the unique importance of this evidence. We

14 do not suggest that a prior history of depression or even suicidality by itself necessarily constitutes

15 material impeachment evidence. But the Majority focused on the absence of any indication that G.C.

16 suffered from hallucinations or delusions, see People v. Fuentes, 12 N.Y.3d at 264, 879 N.Y.S.2d

17 at 377; the lack of notation as to a cognitive disorder, however, was not significant in the

18 circumstances here, where the key issue at trial was not whether G.C. was impaired as to her

19 perceptions. The question was not G.C.'s ability to identify Fuentes as the man in question but rather

20 her motivation for accusing Fuentes of engaging in conduct to which she had not consented; and the

21 Record of Consultation was pertinent to the issue of her motivation because it identified a relevant

22 mood disorder.

29

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1 At bottom, the trial record presented two diametrically opposing versions of what

2 happened, and the jury had to decide whether G.C.'s version of the events, despite Fuentes's version,

3 should be believed beyond a reasonable doubt. G.C.'s testimony was the only evidence that what

4 occurred on the rooftop was a rape rather than a sexual encounter in which she was a willing

5 participant; Fuentes's version was that the encounter was consensual and that G.C. thereafter became

6 angry and vindictive when it became clear that he did not want to see her again. If the jury had been

7 aware of the psychiatric record revealing that G.C. suffered from a chronic disorder characterized by

8 low self-esteem, feelings of inadequacy, and excessive anger--and if counsel had been able to develop

9 this line of defense further by obtaining in time for trial a psychiatric opinion that was obtainable only

10 after the belated discovery of the withheld Record of Consultation--the jury could well have given

11 greater credence to Fuentes's version of the events.

12 In sum, the suppressed psychiatric record provided the only evidence with which the

13 defense could have impeached G.C. as to her mental state and explained why she might have

14 fabricated a claim of rape. The Majority's failure to consider the context of this impeachment

15 evidence renders its Brady-materiality analysis objectively unreasonable.

16 Accordingly, we conclude that the Court of Appeals majority's determination that

17 G.C.'s psychiatric record had no more than minimal value was based principally on (a) its failure to

18 understand what that Record of Consultation stated, (b) its failure to recognize weaknesses in the

19 State's case, (c) its impermissible reliance on the fact that the ROC also contained information that

20 could be considered consistent with G.C.'s accusation, (d) its reliance on the content of the testimony

21 of G.C. herself, the witness to be impeached, and (e) its failure to consider the uniquely important

22 nature of the ROC in these circumstances, where G.C. provided the only evidence that Fuentes's

23 conduct was a crime and where the ROC was the only evidence by which the defense could have

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1 impeached G.C.'s credibility as to her mental state. In light of these failures and in light of evidence

2 in the record as a whole that was not mentioned by the Majority and that was consistent with Fuentes's

3 version of the events, we conclude that the Court of Appeals' decision that the State's suppression of

4 G.C.'s psychiatric record was not prejudicial was an objectively unreasonable application of Supreme

5 Court law. The State's suppression of the psychiatric record, which would have revealed a disorder

6 that both provided a basis for questioning G.C.'s credibility and provided further support for Fuentes's

7 version of the events, undermines confidence in the outcome of Fuentes's trial.

8 CONCLUSION

9 We have considered all of the State's arguments in support of the New York Court of

10 Appeals' decision and have found them to be without merit. The judgment of the district court is

11 reversed, and the matter is remanded for entry of a new judgment ordering that Fuentes be released

12 unless the State affords him a new trial within 90 days.

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