Opinion ID: 2567623
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 27

Heading: McDonald's information and arrangement

Text: The referee found that in the early 1980's, Joe Saucedo confessed to fellow inmate Steven McDonald that he had stabbed and killed a man over a drug deal that had gone bad, but that Saucedo threatened to kill McDonald and his family unless McDonald agreed to lie and say that another inmate had actually killed the drug dealer. The referee further found that in December 1981, then Deputy District Attorney Ito noted for the file that he had received a call from a deputy marshal reporting that McDonald had contacted a sheriffs deputy after overhearing Saucedo cop to his participation in the Hosey 187. That Saucedo had thus inculpated himself to McDonald was not revealed to petitioner. The referee concluded, however, that McDonald's information would not have led to useful defense evidence because there was no substantial evidence the defense would have been able to persuade McDonald to testify truthfully or to cross-examine Saucedo effectively regarding McDonald's information.