Opinion ID: 751346
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Disclose Brady evidence

Text: 53 Tankleff also maintains that he was prejudiced by the prosecution's failure to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence as required by Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). This duty of disclosure is not limited to evidence of the defendant's innocence, but includes material information that would assist the defense in the impeachment of key witnesses. See United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 676, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3380-81, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985). The defense's theory at trial was that Jerry Steuerman, Seymour Tankleff's former business partner, had killed the Tankleffs and that the police had focused so quickly on Martin Tankleff that they never really investigated Steuerman. After trial, defense counsel discovered that the prosecution was aware of, but had failed to disclose, evidence that twelve years earlier, Steuerman had hired Hell's Angels to attack union protestors outside his bagel store. The defense contends that this evidence could have been used for a devastating cross-examination of Steuerman, who when asked if he had anything to do with the murders testified that he would never do anything like that. Arguably, hiring Hell's Angels to settle a union dispute is akin to murdering your business partner. (In addition, the defense claims that this information could also have been used in the cross-examination of Detective McCready to show that the police investigation of Steuerman was inadequate.) 54 The defendant need not show by a preponderance of the evidence that disclosure of the evidence would have resulted in his acquittal. Reversal is warranted if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 434, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 1565-66, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). Tankleff has not shown that there is a reasonable probability that this evidence would have changed the outcome of the trial. Steuerman's credibility was already thoroughly undermined on cross-examination by evidence that he had threatened other people with whom he had business relationships. Moreover, Steuerman's bizarre behavior right after the murders also called his innocence into doubt. 4 Similarly, the defense did cross-examine Detective McCready at trial regarding his failure to pursue Steuerman as a suspect. 55 When a witness's credibility has already been substantially called into question in the same respects by other evidence, additional impeachment evidence will generally be immaterial and will not provide the basis for a Brady claim. See, e.g., United States v. Zagari, 111 F.3d 307, 320-21 (2d Cir.) (holding that cumulative impeachment evidence was not likely to have changed the outcome of the trial), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, ----, 118 S.Ct. 445, 455, 139 L.Ed.2d 381, 390 (1997); United States v. Wong, 78 F.3d 73, 79 (2d Cir.1996) (holding that impeachment evidence was not material because witnesses' credibility had already been called into question by other evidence); United States v. Aguillar, 387 F.2d 625, 626 (2d Cir.1967) (The discovery of new evidence which merely discredits a government witness and does not directly contradict the government's case ordinarily does not justify the grant of a new trial.). 56 There is no reasonable probability that the additional piece of evidence not disclosed by the government would have tipped the jury over to Tankleff's side. The government's failure to disclose this evidence, standing alone, does not, therefore, warrant reversal.