Opinion ID: 163333
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Brady/Trombetta Violations

Text: 9 Mr. Pearl claims that Detective Franke deleted e-mail messages and discarded a computer hard drive relevant to the case. In particular, Mr. Pearl alleges that Detective Franke deleted e-mail messages from Ms. Call-Tarbet sent during the course of the investigation. According to Detective Franke, the hard drive on the computer on which the e-mail messages were stored malfunctioned, and he threw it in the garbage. Because entrapment was part of his defense, Mr. Pearl claims that the e-mail messages reveal the ongoing `project' between Det. Franke and Call-Tarbet whereby they hook `fish' on the Internet, and Call-Tarbet promotes Detective Franke as Jamasis in sex chat rooms. Aplt. Br. at 28. Upon Defendant's motion for a new trial, the district court denied the motion on the grounds that the Defendant was able to produce the e-mail messages from the sender's (Ms. Call-Tarbet's) computer and cross examine Detective Franke about the deleted e-mail messages. VI Rec. Doc. 409 at 4-6. 10 We review the district court's factual finding concluding that the government did not destroy potentially exculpatory evidence for clear error, see United States v. Parker, 72 F.3d 1444, 1451 (10th Cir.1995), though where a new trial motion is based on an alleged Brady violation, we review the district court's ruling de novo. United States v. Quintanilla, 193 F.3d 1139, 1146 (10th Cir.1999). The same de novo standard is applied to the district court's determination whether the undisclosed evidence was material. United States v. Hughes, 33 F.3d 1248, 1251 (10th Cir.1994). Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) governs exculpatory material that is still in the government's possession, and California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984), and Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988), govern exculpatory evidence no longer in the government's possession. See United States v. Gomez, 191 F.3d 1214, 1218 (10th Cir. 1999). 11 To establish a Brady violation, a defendant must show 1) that the prosecution suppressed evidence; 2) that the evidence was favorable to the accused; and 3) that the evidence was material. Smith v. Sec'y of N.M. Dep't of Corr., 50 F.3d 801, 824 (10th Cir.1995) (internal quotation marks omitted). For police destruction of evidence to rise to the level of affecting a defendant's Due Process rights under California v. Trombetta, the evidence must both possess an exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed, and be of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means. 467 U.S. 479, 489, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984). In addition, unlike a Brady analysis, the defendant must show that the government acted in bad faith. Youngblood, 488 U.S. at 58, 109 S.Ct. 333. Because this case presents an issue of the government's destruction of evidence, we analyze Mr. Pearl's claim under the Trombetta standard. 12 Mr. Pearl utterly failed in his motion for a new trial to demonstrate that the e-mail messages were exculpatory and that the government acted in bad faith. All or virtually all of the deleted e-mail messages contained on the damaged and discarded hard drive were contained on another drive (either Mr. Pearl's or Ms. Call-Tarbet's computer), thereby failing to satisfy the unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means aspect of Trombetta analysis. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the detective acted in bad faith. The loss of the e-mail messages and hard drive was, at worst, the product of negligence. Parker, 72 F.3d at 1452 (Mere negligence is not sufficient to establish ... bad faith.). Furthermore, defense counsel had an adequate opportunity to cross examine Detective Franke concerning the deleted e-mail messages and to raise the entrapment defense before the jury. 13 Mr. Pearl also argues that the district court should have held an evidentiary hearing to determine whether loss of the e-mail messages constituted a due process violation. We review the decision of the district court on the propriety of an evidentiary hearing for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Nichols, 169 F.3d 1255, 1263 (10th Cir.1999). The district court was under no obligation to hold an evidentiary hearing, see United States v. Sutton, 767 F.2d 726, 729 (10th Cir.1985), and we find that the district court acted well within its discretion when it decided not to hold an evidentiary hearing and instead resolved Defendant's Brady claim on the record. See Lawrence v. Lensing, 42 F.3d 255, 259 (5th Cir.1994).