Opinion ID: 2431351
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: withholding exculpatory evidence

Text: Appellant contends the trial court should have granted a mistrial because the Commonwealth withheld exculpatory evidence in violation of the rule in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), as applied by our Court in Carter v. Commonwealth, Ky., 782 S.W.2d 597 (1990). This requires the Commonwealth, upon request, to notify the defense in advance of trial of exculpatory evidence known to the prosecution. Carter, supra at 601. A pretrial order required the Commonwealth to furnish all police documents so the court could review them for discoverable, exculpatory evidence and if any is found, provide same to counsel for the Defendant. When a Commonwealth's detective testified, he had in his possession a report which, among other things, contradicted the Commonwealth's pathologist's in-court testimony theorizing that the child had been sexually molested and asphyxiated. The detective's report stated that on the autopsy the pathologist reported that the cause of death was strangulation based on redness of the victim's throat, and that upon examination of the body sexual molestation could not be determined. At trial the Commonwealth's pathologist testified differently on both of these key points. The evidence in the detective's report surfaced after it was too late to cross-examine the doctor about these contradictions. The detective's report also revealed the presence of carpet hair particles found on the victim which would have placed her at a party which occurred at a point in time subsequent to the time the Commonwealth's evidence placed the time of death. Next, an FBI agent testified about a human hair fragment found on the victim's sock which came from a black person, and which tended to exculpate this appellant who is white. The appellant maintains this evidence also should have been revealed in advance of trial. The exculpatory evidence withheld on discovery was of an importance and magnitude to constitute reversible error. It qualifies neither as inadvertently overlooked or not of a prejudicial nature. The Commonwealth argues that the complaint against this failure to disclose was not adequately preserved, but the record reveals the appellant protested the failure to disclose in both instances, and asked for a mistrial when the evidence about the foreign hair surfaced.