Opinion ID: 1960214
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Suppression of Exculpatory and Impeachment Evidence

Text: Defendant contends that the prosecutor did not adequately respond to discovery requests and failed to provide exculpatory and impeaching evidence which would have supported his theory that a third person committed the crime. In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), the Court held that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to the accused, when requested, violates the defendant's due process rights, if the evidence is material either to guilt or punishment, without regard to the good or bad faith of the prosecution. The Brady rule encompasses evidence which impeaches the testimony of a witness when the reliability or credibility of that witness may be determinative of guilt or innocence. United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985); Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972); State v. Knapper, 579 So.2d 956, 959 (La.1991). However, Brady and its progeny do not establish a general rule of discoverability. A prosecutor does not breach his constitutional duty to disclose favorable evidence unless the omission is of sufficient significance to result in the denial of the defendant's right to a fair trial. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 112, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976); State v. Willie, 410 So.2d 1019, 1030 (La.1982). For purposes of Brady' s due process rule, a reviewing court, in determining materiality of evidence, must ascertain not whether the defendant would more likely than not have received a different verdict with the evidence, but whether in its absence he received a fair trial, understood as a trial resulting in a verdict worthy of confidence. Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 434, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995) (citing Bagley, 473 U.S. at 678, 105 S.Ct. 3375). Thus, the reviewing court does not put the evidence to an outcome-determinative test in which the court weighs the probabilities that the defendant would have obtained an acquittal at trial or might do so at a second trial. Instead, a Brady violation occurs when the evidentiary suppression `undermines confidence in the outcome of the trial.' Kyles, 514 U.S. at 434, 115 S.Ct. 1555 (quoting Bagley, 473 U.S. at 678, 105 S.Ct. 3375). Since defendant's trial, his appellate counsel has obtained copies of supplemental police reports that counsel asserts contain exculpatory and impeachment evidence that should have been disclosed and is material to the third party gunman defense. Separate discussions follow.