Opinion ID: 2974046
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Suppression by the Prosecution

Text: The district court found that the prosecution did not disclose the fact that Davenport approached the prosecution to testify against Petitioner in expectation of some benefit, and this finding is not clearly erroneous. The district court made no finding as to the disclosure of the tacit agreement with respect to the nolle prosequied counts against Davenport, so there is no factual finding to review under the clearly erroneous standard. From our review of the record, there is nothing that indicates that this information was disclosed to Petitioner. The district court also made no factual finding as to the disclosure of the tacit agreement to assist Davenport at his parole hearing, and we find that this information was not disclosed to Petitioner. With respect to the element of suppression, Respondent “submits that petitioner had access to the material upon which he bases his claim, namely Davenport’s parole records and prior convictions.” (Resp’t Br. 24.) This argument fails for two reasons. First, if Petitioner had searched Davenport’s parole records and prior convictions before trial, Petitioner could not have found that Davenport approached the prosecution shopping for a deal for his testimony, that the district attorney’s office dropped four counts against Davenport after a meeting with the prosecution, or that the prosecution had a tacit agreement to provide Davenport assistance with his parole hearing. Thus, the basis of Petitioner’s Brady claim could not have been discovered through a search of Davenport’s parole records and prior convictions. Second, and more importantly, assuming arguendo that the basis of Petitioner’s Brady claim could indeed have been found in these records, Petitioner was under no obligation to second guess the prosecution’s representation that no impeaching evidence existed as to Davenport. As explained above, once the prosecution responded to Petitioner’s request for impeaching evidence, Petitioner was under no duty to engage in further investigation to determine whether the prosecution’s response was truthful. See Banks, 540 U.S. at 695 (“Our decisions lend no support to the notion that defendants must scavenge for hints of undisclosed Brady material when the prosecution represents that all such material has been disclosed.”). The Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in Strickler; there, the prosecution claimed that the basis of the petitioner’s Brady claim was contained in the prosecution’s file, and that the prosecution had an “open file” policy so that the petitioner could have discovered the relevant evidence. 527 U.S. at 276. The Supreme Court found that despite the open file policy, the prosecution suppressed the exculpatory evidence because it represented that it had produced all the Brady information in the file. Id. at 289. Likewise, even if the basis of Petitioner’s claim could have been discovered through a search of Davenport’s parole records and prior convictions, Petitioner could rely on the prosecution’s representation that no exculpatory or impeaching evidence was available so as to make such a search futile. No. 04-5523 Bell v. Bell Page 16