Opinion ID: 77172
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Moo Youngs' Briefcase

Text: 75 Maharaj next claims that the state prosecutors violated Brady when they failed to turn over the contents of a briefcase, containing passports and various documents, that the Moo Youngs brought with them to the Dupont Plaza Hotel. The briefcase was taken by the police as evidence and subsequently returned to the victims' family. An investigator working for Petitioner's trial counsel subsequently asked the police to produce the briefcase and its contents. The police responded that they no longer had the briefcase and informed the investigator that it had been returned to the Moo Young family. Petitioner contends that the items contained in the Moo Youngs' briefcase should have been turned over as Brady material. 76 The state post-conviction trial court described the contents of the briefcase as passports for both Duane and Derrick Moo Young, showing travel to Panama, Jamaica, and other countries, international letters of credit, appointments, insurance policies on the victims, and other documents that might suggest the victims may have been involved in transactions involving very large sums of money, and, potentially fraudulent activities. Petitioner contends that these passports and documents would have led to other evidence, which in turn may have shown that the Moo Youngs were killed by a Colombian cartel for trying to siphon millions of dollars while laundering drug money around the Caribbean. 77 The state post-conviction trial court rejected this claim, finding that there was no Brady violation for two independent reasons: first, the briefcase and its documents were not suppressed by the State because Petitioner knew of their existence and had the power to compel their return from the Moo Young family by subpoena, and, second, the information was not material. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed on those same grounds. We agree. 78 Again, the Florida Supreme Court correctly articulated the Brady standard. The trial court did likewise, citing the Supreme Court's decision in Kyles. In this case, the defense was plainly aware that the Moo Youngs left a briefcase at the crime scene; an investigator working for Petitioner's counsel approached the police and asked them for it. The officer explained, however, that the briefcase had been returned to the victims' family. At that time, Petitioner knew of the briefcase and knew how he could obtain it. The police could not give it to him because they no longer had it. 79 Our case law is clear that [w]here defendants, prior to trial, had within their knowledge the information by which they could have ascertained the alleged Brady material, there is no suppression by the government. United States v. Griggs, 713 F.2d 672, 674 (11th Cir.1983); accord LeCroy, 421 F.3d at 1268 (noting that there was no Brady violation because the defendant could have obtained the information had he used reasonable diligence); Haliburton v. Sec'y for Dep't of Corr., 342 F.3d 1233, 1239 (11th Cir.2003); United States v. Valera, 845 F.2d 923, 927-28 (11th Cir.1988); United States v. Cortez, 757 F.2d 1204, 1208 (11th Cir.1985). The evidence was not suppressed by the state. 4 80 Moreover, we agree with the state court that neither the briefcase nor its contents were material. In describing why the briefcase documents were not material, the state post-conviction trial court observed that the documents would not have impeached the star witness, Neville Butler, nor refuted testimonial evidence taken from the hotel employees, the fingerprint evidence tying Maharaj to the hotel room, or the ballistics evidence regarding Maharaj's gun. The state court not only found that there was no reasonable probability the proceedings would have been different if the evidence had been disclosed, but went so far as to say that disclosure would not have resulted in a markedly weaker case for the prosecution or a markedly stronger one for the defendant. 81 The Florida courts' application of the Brady rule was reasonable here too. In deciding whether evidence was material for the purposes of a Brady violation, the question is not whether the conviction was more likely because the evidence was introduced or even whether the evidence might have changed the outcome of the trial. Strickler, 527 U.S. at 289, 119 S.Ct. at 1952. Rather, Petitioner must convince us that `there is a reasonable probability' that the result of the trial would have been different if the suppressed documents had been disclosed to the defense. Id. The word reasonable is important. The question is 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, 514 U.S. at 434, 115 S.Ct. at 1566. 5 82 We agree with the state post-conviction trial court that the briefcase documents neither impeached Butler's testimony nor called into question any of the physical evidence recovered from the crime scene. At most, they arguably cast the victims in a negative light and raise the bare possibility that the Moo Youngs may have been involved in some arguably unsavory activities with other individuals who may have had reason to do them harm. This highly speculative chain falls far short of even that quantum of evidence rejected as being insufficient by the Strickler Court, and, at all events, does not establish a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different if the documents had not been suppressed. See Crawford v. Head, 311 F.3d 1288, 1330-31 (11th Cir.2002) (rejecting an argument similar to the one Petitioner makes here, finding that a police report detailing clothing found at a crime scene was not material, despite the fact that the report could theoretically give rise to the theory that other potential suspects should have been more thoroughly investigated). 83 The Florida courts' twin conclusions that the briefcase contents were not suppressed by the state and were not material under Brady were reasonable, and were neither contrary to nor an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law. Maharaj is entitled to no relief on this claim.