Opinion ID: 2212000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues

Text: Petitioner contends that he was denied due process of law as a result of the State's nondisclosure of all the relevant circumstances which induced the testimony of Craig Caron, an accomplice who was never charged. He attempts to support this claim in several ways. Caron testified at the petitioner's trial that the prosecutor did not make any offers of leniency. At the later trial of Martin O'Conner, also an accomplice, Caron testified that the prosecutor told him that there was a good chance that he would not be prosecuted. Defendant argues that, based upon the statements at O'Conner's trial, Caron's testimony at the petitioner's trial was perjured. At the post conviction hearing, Caron again testified that no offer of leniency was made, and that he was told that he probably would not be charged. The prosecutor testified at both the trial and the post conviction proceeding and explained in detail the facts and circumstances of Caron's case.    I told him that if he would testify as to what happened, if his testimony was truthful and if it was accurate with other facts that we knew about, that because of these things that he was a juvenile and he wasn't directly involved at the scene, that there was a good possibility that he wouldn't be prosecuted. Further, Petitioner contends that the prosecutor practically admitted in his closing argument to the jury to having made an agreement with the witness. This contention is without support in the record. The admissions alluded to were nothing more than references to clearly hypothetical circumstances mentioned to illustrate a weakness in Petitioner's argument. In post conviction proceedings the trial judge, as trier of the facts, is the sole judge of the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses. Hoskins v. State, (1973) 261 Ind. 291, 295, 302 N.E.2d 499, 501. The trial court found that the testimony at the petitioner's trial adequately reflected the circumstances surrounding the testimony of the witness, Caron. The record supports this finding. Lamb v. State, (1975) 263 Ind. 137, 143, 325 N.E.2d 180, 183. The prosecutor does have a duty to disclose the existence of agreements made with a State's witness, Richard v. State, (1978) 269 Ind. 607, 614, 382 N.E.2d 899, 904 (cases cited therein), cert. denied, (1979) 440 U.S. 965, 99 S.Ct. 1515, 59 L.Ed.2d 781; however, the record in this case does not reflect that an agreement was made. See Baker v. State, (1980) Ind., 403 N.E.2d 1069, 1071.