Opinion ID: 1368630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: alleged suppression of evidence favorable to defendant

Text: Defendant alleges that he was prejudiced by the failure of the Commonwealth to disclose to him prior to trial certain taped and written interviews between Meekins and Detectives Norman A. Harding and D. C. Gery. The record discloses no written motion for discovery as required by Supreme Court Rule 3A:14(b). [3] The only formal request by defendant for the statements occurred during the trial and was granted by the trial judge. Counsel for the defendant represents that prior to trial, and on a number of occasions after the preliminary hearing, they inquired of the Commonwealth's Attorney if there were any recorded statements and requested a copy if such existed. They say that on each occasion the prosecuting attorney answered: I have no Brady material in my file. The three bodies were not discovered until October 21, 1979, a discovery which precipitated tremendous police activity. The Brileys and Meekins were immediately suspected as being involved in the murders, rapes, and robbery because they had been observed by the police in the vicinity of the Wilkerson home. Linwood Briley and Meekins were arrested about 7:30 p. m. on October 22nd, and were told that the police were investigating the Barton Avenue murders. Because Meekins was a minor the officers did not interrogate him until his mother and father had arrived at the police station and were present. The officers related to Meekins an account of his movements and that of the Brileys prior to and after the murders, and they described to him the murder scene. They removed Meekins' tennis shoes which, because of their condition, they suspected had been worn by him on the night of the murders and left prints in blood at the Wilkerson home. The parents of Meekins urged their son to tell the truth, at which time Meekins made a statement admitting his presence with the Brileys at the scene of the murders. The following day counsel was appointed for Meekins and thereafter, on October 25th, Meekins made a detailed confession to the police, admitting that he killed Harvey Wilkerson and implicating himself and the three Brileys in the robbery, murders, and rapes. Both statements were first taped and thereafter transcribed. At the conclusion of the Commonwealth's case, and after Meekins had testified, counsel for the defendant moved for a mistrial upon the ground that the Commonwealth had withheld from them the tapes and transcripts of the interviews between Meekins and the police. The court denied the defendant's motion but required the Commonwealth to make available to the defense both the tapes and the transcripts, and this was done. The defense alleges that there are inconsistencies between the testimony given by Meekins at trial and some of his responses in the interviews conducted by the police. Although the trial court found few inconsistencies it gave counsel for the defendant an opportunity to examine the tapes and transcripts, and then permitted them to recall both Meekins and Officer Harding and cross-examine them on any inconsistencies which the defense considered material, or to which they took exception. Defendant relies primarily on Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and Stover v. Commonwealth, 211 Va. 789, 180 S.E.2d 504 (1971), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 953, 93 S.Ct. 3002, 37 L.Ed.2d 1006 (1973), which hold that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to the accused upon request violates due process when the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1196, Stover, 211 Va. at 795, 180 S.E.2d at 509. The defense argues that in the case under review identification of the murderers was the primary issue and that the credibility of Meekins, the key witness for the prosecution, was critical to defendant's case. They argue that any inconsistencies between Meekins' original representation of events to the officers and his testimony on the witness stand affected his credibility and could have had an effect on the outcome of the trial. Defendant claims that disclosure during trial was not sufficient or timely. The Commonwealth, relying upon United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976), discusses the three categories in which a prosecutor might have an affirmative duty to disclose to the defense certain evidence. The first category is where a prosecutor knowingly uses perjured testimony, in which event a defendant has only to prove a reasonable likelihood that the testimony could have affected the jury's judgment. The second category, the Brady category, is where a defendant makes a specific request for certain evidence, but it is not disclosed. There, a conviction will be reversed if the evidence might have affected the trial's outcome. The third category is where no request is made or where a general request for all exculpatory evidence is made. There, the conviction is affected only if the evidence was sufficient to create a reasonable doubt that did not otherwise exist. Obviously, we do not have a perjured testimony situation, and the defendant, prior to the conclusion of the Commonwealth's case, made no motion for the discovery of certain evidence or documents. If any of the three Agurs categories are involved here it would be the third, assuming we construe the defendant's oral request made to the Commonwealth's Attorney for any statements by Meekins as a general request for all exculpatory evidence. We do not construe the statements by Meekins to the police as exculpatory. In Lowe v. Commonwealth, 218 Va. 670, 679, 239 S.E.2d 112, 118 (1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 930, 98 S.Ct. 1502, 55 L.Ed.2d 526 (1978), we said: [T]he core of this due process rule of fairness is that the evidence must be exculpatory, favorable to the accused. The statements involved here amounted to a confession by Meekins of his involvement in the Barton Avenue crimes and an implication of all three Briley brothers. We find nothing in the statement which is of benefit to the defendant. True, this sixteen-year-old boy did not immediately confess his guilt. His confession, and the implication by him of his confederates, came in stages as he learned that the officers had sufficient information to identify him as one of the perpetrators of the crimes, and only after he had conferred with his parents and his attorney and concluded that it would be to his advantage to make a full and complete statement of what had occurred. The only advantage to the defense that we can perceive from their having the Meekins statement in advance of trial was that they could point out any inconsistencies between it and Meekins' testimony. The opportunity to do this was accorded the defendant by the action of the court. We observe that Meekins admitted on the witness stand that his first statements to the police were false and that some of his testimony at a preliminary hearing was false. This witness also admitted that he would lie to save his own life. We would further note that counsel for the defendant stated that they had attended a portion of the trial of Linwood Briley and had been present when Meekins was crossexamined. The testimony given by Meekins in the instant case therefore came as no surprise to the defense. The record shows that the reliability of Meekins as a witness, and the truthfulness of his testimony, were painstakingly and exhaustively explored on direct examination, cross-examination, and recross-examination, and that the defendant introduced evidence to discredit the testimony of this witness. We are convinced that an earlier disclosure to defendant of the contents of the tapes and transcripts would have given him little, if any, aid in his assault on the testimony of Meekins. Defendant's motion for a mistrial, based upon the failure of the Commonwealth to have previously made disclosure, came at the conclusion of the Commonwealth's evidence. The trial judge had the alternative of declaring a mistrial or taking curative action. He adopted what we believe was the correct course. He required the Commonwealth to make the tapes and transcripts available to the defense and gave them the opportunity and time to examine their contents. In addition, the trial court permitted recross-examination of Meekins and the detective, thereby giving the defendant an opportunity to point out any inconsistencies between the statements made by Meekins in the tapes and transcripts and the testimony he gave on direct and cross-examination. This less drastic curative action by the trial judge to the granting of a mistrial was indeed appropriate. In the language of Mr. Justice Story, in United States v. Coolidge, 25 F.Cas. No. 14,858 pp. 622, 623 (1815), the discretion to discharge the jury before it has reached a verdict is to be exercised only in very extraordinary and striking circumstances. The case under review is not such a case. We find no prejudice to the defendant shown, or any abuse of discretion by the trial court.