Opinion ID: 2567623
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: Barnes's information and arrangement

Text: While incarcerated in the Los Angeles County jail, Saucedo related to Jimmie Barnes numerous details about the Hosey killing. Barnes subsequently was interviewed by an officer in the district attorney's bureau of investigation. Barnes said Saucedo told him that he (Saucedo), petitioner, and two other persons all participated in stabbing Hosey at a place approximately one block from Saucedo's residence. Saucedo told Barnes he had established an alibi by getting his girlfriend to agree to testify she and Saucedo were at the Egyptian Theatre the night of the murder. As the referee found, Saucedo's statement to Barnes differs from his trial testimony. Saucedo testified that after he tripped Hosey, petitioner jumped on Hosey and stabbed him to death, while Saucedo tried to stop petitioner and was injured in the attempt. Thus, at trial Saucedo characterized his involvement as that of a Good Samaritan who risked his well-being trying to stop the killing, while subsequently confessing to Barnes that it was actually he who had killed Hosey. Barnes was allowed to plead guilty in an unrelated case to one count of robbery with no immediate state prison time, in exchange for his testimony against Saucedo or petitioner should it become necessary. The circumstances of the deal were not disclosed to petitioner. The referee also found that disclosure of Barnes's information, and of the prosecution's arrangements with him, would have led to useful defense evidence. Inter alia, disclosure would have enabled the defense to argue the prosecution lacked a good faith belief that Saucedo was truthfully describing petitioner's involvement in the Hosey killing.