Opinion ID: 2997392
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Youngblood

Text: Hubanks also argues that while the Wisconsin Court of Appeals identified the correct Supreme Court precedent, Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988), the court unreasonably applied Youngblood to the facts of his case. Youngblood is relevant when the government has failed to preserve evidence, but no more can be said of that evidence than that “it could have been subjected to tests, the results of which might have 8 No. 04-1043 exonerated the defendant.” Youngblood, 488 U.S. at 57-58 (emphasis added). In such situations, failure to preserve evidence is not a violation of due process rights unless the defendant can demonstrate: (1) bad faith on the part of the government; (2) that the exculpatory value of the evidence was apparent before it was destroyed; and (3) that the evidence was of such a nature that the petitioner would be unable to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means. Id.; California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 488-89, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984); United States v. Watts, 29 F.3d 287, 289-90 (7th Cir. 1994). Hubanks argues that the court of appeals misinterpreted the “apparent exculpatory value” language of the Supreme Court’s decision in Youngblood. The Court, however, specifically stated, “The possibility that the semen could have exculpated respondent if preserved or tested is not enough to satisfy the standard of constitutional materiality in Trombetta.” Youngblood, 488 U.S. at 56 n. (emphasis added). Evidence lacks apparent exculpatory value when, as here, analysis of that evidence would have offered “simply an avenue of investigation that might have led in any number of directions.” Id. at 57 n.. A favorable DNA test would not have exonerated Hubanks, there having been two assailants, one of whom was never apprehended. As a result, the evidence had no apparent exculpatory value, and the court of appeals’ application of Youngblood was reasonable.