Opinion ID: 2062476
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Suppression of Exculpatory Material

Text: Citing Maryland Rule 4-263(a)(1) and Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), Gilliam contends that the State failed to turn over material which was exculpatory in nature. Specifically, Gilliam contends that the State failed to turn over the statements of Arneisha James, the statement of Lisa Brown, the police report of Trooper Wilson, and the letter from Tony Drummond to Arneisha James. Although Daneman did not recognize these documents when shown them at the post conviction hearing some three years after the trial, it is by no means clear that he had not been provided these documents by the State. The post conviction judge found that Daneman had two meetings to review the State's file, and it was stipulated that the documents at issue were in the State's file prior to trial. It was also conceded that it is the policy of the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office to give open file discovery. Moreover, Daneman testified at the post conviction hearing that he and the prosecutor met and I went through everything. He further testified, I know I had to look through their file.... No, the State gave me everything I wanted. Daneman's failure to recognize the documents three years later does not require the trial judge to find that they were withheld by the State. The trial judge's finding that Daneman was given access to the disputed documents was not clearly erroneous. Even if these documents had not been furnished by the State, from our previous discussion about these specific items, see parts I.A.1 and I.C.4, supra, it is clear that none of these documents constitute material evidence whose suppression would require a new trial. See United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3383, 87 L.Ed.2d 481, 494 (1985) (The evidence is material only if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.); Thomas, 325 Md. at 190, 599 A.2d at 1185.