Opinion ID: 167150
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Violations Under Brady v. Maryland and California v. Trombetta

Text: 117 Bureau of Prisons policy requires correctional officers routinely to videotape any calculated use of force on an inmate. The warden reviews the videotapes to ensure that the officers follow the appropriate procedures during the use of force. The tapes are retained for up to two years and then destroyed in the ordinary course of business. If an incident is serious and has been referred for possible criminal investigation, the tape might be retained, placed into evidence, and controlled more closely. 118 Beginning in July 2001, the defendants made several requests for the tapes created on April 5 and 6, 1996 during forced-cell moves of Pedro Castillo, the inmate whom Mr. LaVallee and Mr. Schultz were convicted of abusing. After each request, the BOP responded that the tapes no longer existed. Mr. Schultz made one last request for the tapes shortly before his sentencing. This time, the Government responded to the request by producing the tape created on April 6, 1996, the day after the incident giving rise to Mr. Schultz's and Mr. LaVallee's convictions. 119 The tape shows Mr. Castillo slashing at his chest and legs, attempting to draw blood. Mr. Schultz approaches the cell and instructs Mr. Castillo to put his hands through the food gate so that he can be handcuffed. Mr. Castillo complies and Mr. Schultz enters the cell to fasten a chain around Mr. Castillo's waist. Mr. Schultz then escorts Mr. Castillo to the x-ray room without incident. Mr. Schultz moved for a new trial, arguing that the Government suppressed favorable and material evidence in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). 120 When the Government withholds evidence on demand of a defendant which, if made available, would tend to exculpate him, it violates the due process rights of that defendant. Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194. The Government's good faith is not relevant. Id. While we ordinarily review a district court's denial of a motion for a new trial for an abuse of discretion, when the motion is based on an alleged Brady violation, we review the district court's decision de novo. See United States v. Combs, 267 F.3d 1167, 1172 (10th Cir.2001). To establish a Brady violation, a defendant must demonstrate (1) the prosecution suppressed evidence,[ 19 ] (2) the evidence was favorable to defendant, and (3) the evidence was material. United States v. Quintanilla, 193 F.3d 1139, 1149 (10th Cir.1999). There is no dispute in this case that the prosecution suppressed evidence within the meaning of Brady. We therefore concentrate our analysis on the remaining two factors. 121 Evidence is favorable to the defendant if it constitutes either exculpatory or impeachment evidence. Smith v. Sec'y of N.M. Dept. of Corrs., 50 F.3d 801, 825 (10th Cir.1995). Mr. Schultz argues that the evidence is favorable to him because it shows Mr. Castillo cutting at his chest and legs to draw blood. According to Mr. Schultz, this casts doubt on the Government's theory of the case — that the defendants fabricated a reason to move Mr. Castillo from his cell to beat him — and supports his defense that Mr. Castillo was in fact trying to injure himself the previous day. He also argues that it is favorable because it shows Mr. Schultz and Mr. Castillo interacting without incident. The Government counters that this tape does not rebut their theory of the case — inmate Castillo was a known self-mutilator and the Government's theory was that the defendants falsely claimed that he had been cutting himself on April 5 precisely because it was a plausible explanation for entering his cell. In this regard, the tape is consistent with the Government's evidence. We need not conclusively resolve whether this evidence was favorable to Mr. Schultz, however, because we find that it was not material to his guilt. 122 Evidence is material to the defendant if it creates a reasonable probability that, `had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.' Scott v. Mullin, 303 F.3d 1222, 1230 (10th Cir.2002) (quoting United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985)). A `reasonable probability' is a `probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.' Id. (quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984)). Mr. Schultz argues that there is a reasonable probability that had the videotape been disclosed he would have been acquitted because it defies common sense to believe that Mr. Castillo would cooperate with Mr. Schultz if Mr. Schultz had abused him the previous day. 123 To the contrary, the District Court found, and we agree, that the videotape is consistent with the fact that Mr. Castillo was beaten the previous day and does not cast sufficient doubt on the fact that Mr. Schultz participated in that abuse. The Government presented evidence at trial that on April 5 Mr. Castillo was beaten in the kidney area. The video shows Mr. Castillo's abdomen wrapped in bandages consistent with the area of beating. Further, the video shows Mr. Castillo moving somewhat gingerly, which is also consistent with testimony that he was abused the previous day. That the video shows Mr. Schultz and Mr. Castillo interacting without incident does not undermine our confidence in the outcome of the trial. As the District Court noted, [i]t is a fact of life that in a prison setting, prisoners are forced to interact on a daily basis with the correctional officers, even those officers that may have mistreated or abused the prisoners. The tape merely shows Mr. Castillo cooperating with the officers the day after the assault and as such, it has little bearing on what occurred the previous day. Cf. Engberg v. Wyoming, 265 F.3d 1109, 1118 (10th Cir.2001) (evidence that creates a mere possibility of a different result does not meet the standard for reasonable probability). We therefore hold that the evidence was not material and, as such, Mr. Schultz's due process rights were not violated. 124 Mr. Schultz also argues that the Government's destruction of the April 5, 1996 videotape violated his due process rights and warrants a new trial under California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984). Mr. Schultz did not raise this issue to the District Court. Accordingly, we review the District Court's failure sua sponte to realize that the destruction warranted a new trial only for plain error. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); United States v. McDonald, 933 F.2d 1519, 1524 (10th Cir.1991). 125 For the government's 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 a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain it by other reasonably available means.' United States v. Pearl, 324 F.3d 1210, 1215 (10th Cir.2003) ((quoting Trombetta, 467 U.S. at 489, 104 S.Ct. 2528)). In addition, the defendant must show that the government acted in bad faith. Id. (citing Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 58, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988)). 126 Even if Mr. Schultz could show that the exculpatory value of the video was apparent before the video was destroyed, he fails to show that the tape was destroyed in bad faith. He argues that the failure of the Government to preserve the tape undermines the only reason the tape was created in the first place and it was therefore done in bad faith. To the contrary, there is unrebutted testimony that these tapes, used to ensure that the correctional officers used the proper procedures during forced-cell moves, were routinely destroyed in the ordinary course of business approximately two years after their creation. Mr. Schultz notes that the Government first became aware that Mr. Castillo was beaten when it spoke with Ms. Gutierrez in February 2000, nearly four years after the incident. When the defendants made their first request for the video in 2001, it had already been destroyed. Therefore, Mr. Schultz has failed to establish the District Court plainly erred in not granting a new trial on its own initiative due to the Government's bad-faith destruction of exculpatory evidence.