Opinion ID: 2125556
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Preservation of Exculpatory Evidence

Text: Holder claims that the State failed to collect and preserve exculpatory evidence including the clothing she was wearing during the incident, hair that Westmoreland allegedly pulled from her head, photos of Holder on the night of the shooting, and information about lighting at the crime scene. This Court follows the United States Supreme Court's decision in California v. Trombetta to determine the scope of the prosecutor's duty to preserve exculpatory evidence: Whatever duty the Constitution imposes on the States to preserve evidence, that duty must be limited to evidence that might be expected to play a significant role in the suspect's defense. To meet this standard of constitutional materiality, evidence must both possess an exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed, and be of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means. 467 U.S. 479, 488-89, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 2534, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984) (footnote and citation omitted); see also Kindred v. State (1988), Ind., 524 N.E.2d 279, 299. The facts of this case meet neither of these conditions. Holder first complains that the State failed to seize and preserve the nightgown she was wearing on the night of the crime. Two of the investigating officers testified that Holder was wearing a nightgown when they arrived at her home after the shooting. One officer testified that Holder's gown was not ripped and that he did not seize it. The other testified that when he returned to Holder's home in the early morning hours of October 20 to secure any additional evidence, Holder gave him a nightgown and told him it belonged to Denise Kniep. That nightgown was introduced as evidence at trial through the police officer's testimony. Denise testified that she was wearing it when the incident occurred and that Westmoreland ripped it while they were fighting in the yard. There was nothing to prevent Holder from (1) giving the police officer her own gown when she gave him Denise's and then producing it through him at trial, or (2) introducing it as her own exhibit. Next, Holder complains that the State failed to preserve hair that Westmoreland pulled from her head. The officer who returned to the scene to collect evidence testified that Holder gave him the hair and told him that Westmoreland had laid her down and pulled it out. The officer also testified that he did not preserve the hair. The evidentiary value of the hair was questionable. None of the independent witnesses saw Westmoreland pull Holder's hair. Holder and Denise Kniep had the opportunity to testify that he did so. The hair itself, procured from Holder the day after the crime, would have been a marginal addition. Finally, Holder's arguments that the police failed to photograph her and collect information about lighting at the scene of the crime are without merit. Even if such evidence would have been exculpatory, Holder clearly could have obtained it herself through reasonably available means.