Opinion ID: 519281
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Fault of Government Prosecutors

Text: 20 In the instant case, it appears that any nondisclosure of evidence may have been the fault, not of the prosecutors themselves, but of other government agents. 4 But 21 whether the nondisclosure is a result of negligence or design, it is the responsibility of the prosecutor. The prosecutor's office is an entity and as such it is the spokesman for the Government. Giglio, 405 U.S. at 154, 92 S.Ct. at 766. 22 Furthermore, in United States v. Butler, 567 F.2d 885, 891 (9th Cir.1978), we concluded that 23 [t]he prosecutor is responsible for the nondisclosure of assurances made to his principal witnesses even if such promises by other government agents were unknown to the prosecutor. Since the investigative officers are part of the prosecution, the taint on the trial is no less if they, rather than the prosecutor, were guilty of nondisclosure. 24 Indeed, it is the character of the evidence, not the character of the prosecutor, that determines whether nondisclosure constitutes constitutional error. Agurs, 427 U.S. at 110, 96 S.Ct. at 2401. 25