Opinion ID: 612140
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Government's Disclosure of Brady and Jencks Act Materials

Text: 223 Lastly, Murr asserts that the government did not turn over relevant exculpatory and impeachment evidence to defendants in a timely manner, thereby denying them a fair trial. 224 Pursuant to the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500(b), [a]fter a witness called by the United States has testified on direct examination, the court shall, on motion of the defendant, order the United States to produce any statement ... of the witness in the possession of the United States which relates to the subject matter as to which the witness has testified. 225 Furthermore, as a general matter, the government is required upon request, to give a defendant any exculpatory information the prosecut[ion] may have which is material to guilt or innocence. United States v. Bibby, 752 F.2d 1116, 1125 (6th Cir.1985) (citing Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963)). Similarly, the accused must be afforded any relevant impeachment evidence. See United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985). Unlike the Jencks Act, the force of Brady and its progeny is not limited to the statements and reports of witnesses. 226 Murr calls our attention to the following Brady and Jencks Act materials which the defense either did not receive or, in his opinion, did not receive in time to have used effectively at trial: documents reporting suspected wrongdoing by Tommy McKeehan; notes from government-conducted interviews of McKeehan; probation officer Ed Lynn's file on Jerry Parks; forms outlining government payments to Parks and Ernie Nicely; information about Parks' association with an individual named Sam Scruggs in a cocaine distribution scheme; checks made out to Parks by Murr and drawn on Automotive Enterprises; the original of a letter by Robert Phibbs to the United States Probation Office offering Parks a job with Automotive Enterprises; Parks' tape recordings recounting his participation in a variety of drug transactions; Jencks Act material derived from Edward Rogers; and Parks' prison records. Murr contends that, had defendants been able to take advantage of these materials, they might have influenced the jury's assessment of their culpability. 227 The record reveals that defendants were, in fact, able to make use of Parks' tapes at trial, playing portions of them to the jury. Likewise, the defense employed Lynn's file on Parks to conduct a searching cross-examination of the officer. 228 As for Parks' prison records, the government maintains that they were never in the prosecution's control and that it was otherwise unaware of any exculpatory information contained within them. See Bibby, 752 F.2d at 1125 (due process requires only that government, upon request, divulge to defendant relevant exculpatory evidence possessed by the prosecution); United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 110, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2400, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976) (Brady doctrine only covers evidence which prosecution knew or should have known was exculpatory). The government did eventually provide the records to defense counsel just before Parks was cross-examined, and they were exploited accordingly. 229 The government furnished the defense with records concerning payments made to Parks and Nicely stemming from their respective service as informants. Other memoranda were given to the district court under seal because they included information regarding their whereabouts following their relocation by the government. The court reviewed these documents in camera and determined they had no impeachment value beyond those materials which defendants already had obtained. Our own examination of the memoranda confirms this. Their suppression did not act to undermine confidence in the outcome of the instant case. Bagley, 473 U.S. at 678, 105 S.Ct. at 3381. 230 With regard to the Phibbs letter and the checks made out to Parks by Murr, government counsel stated to the district court that these materials only came to [his] attention after the discovery deadline had passed. He then promised to turn them over to defendants. When the government could not find the original Phibbs letter, it sought to introduce a copy into evidence; the district court sustained a defense objection to the copy being admitted. While there are conflicting accounts of whether the checks were, in fact, furnished to the defense, Murr was able to introduce into evidence an Automotive Enterprises check written out to Parks by Phibbs, and had the opportunity to cross-examine Parks about the check. Assuming, arguendo, that defendants did not receive the checks, the totality of the evidence presented convinces us there was not a reasonable probability that, had they been disclosed, the results of the trial would have been different. See Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39, 57, 107 S.Ct. 989, 1001, 94 L.Ed.2d 40 (1987). 231 Government counsel and Special Agent Merryman interviewed McKeehan before trial regarding his drug dealing. McKeehan did not, however, adopt the notes that were taken at these interviews as substantially verbatim to the statement[s] given [by him]. United States v. Williams, 962 F.2d 1218, 1224 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, Williams v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 113 S.Ct. 264, 121 L.Ed.2d 194 (1992) (quoting United States v. Arnold, 890 F.2d 825, 829 (6th Cir.1989)). As a result, they did not constitute Jencks Act material. 232 The defense also requested information concerning McKeehan's plea agreement with the government, and any investigations of criminal wrongdoing on his part touched upon by the agreement. In response, defendants were provided with copies of the agreement, which named 16 judicial districts where the government had afforded McKeehan protection from prosecution. In addition, they were given copies of both McKeehan's rap sheet and an affidavit from his treating psychiatrist. 233 The government went on to describe to defendants two incidents of cocaine transportation which explained the inclusion of most of the 16 districts in McKeehan's plea agreement. Defendants, however, asked for additional information which would account for the remaining districts; in particular, they sought the results of a Tennessee grand jury investigation into McKeehan's activities. Government counsel asserted that it was not required to divulge evidence concerning suspected wrongdoing or ongoing criminal investigations. He then represented to the district court that the government had disclosed all tangible records of established wrongdoing, i.e., McKeehan's criminal history and misconduct acknowledged by him as part of his plea bargain. 234 Evidence in the prosecution's files related to the suspected wrongdoing of a witness must be made known to the defendant if it is favorable to the accused and is material to the question of his guilt or innocence. See Bagley, 473 U.S. at 676, 105 S.Ct. at 3380. The Supreme Court, in construing the government's obligations under Brady v. Maryland and its offspring, has drawn no distinction between such evidence and that pertaining to proven or admitted criminal behavior. 235 Frequently, though, evidence associated with suspected wrongdoing will not be admissible even for impeachment purposes, having no bearing on the capacity for truth of any witness. Furthermore, even if logically relevant, its prejudicial effect may nonetheless substantially outweigh its probative value, thus pointing towards its exclusion. See Fed.R.Evid. 403. Additionally, its probative value may be eclipsed by the likely harm resulting from its public revelation, such as to persons embroiled in the case, or to others, or to the success or direction of a continuing official investigation. However, in the unusual instance that its suppression acted to deny a defendant a fair trial, reversal is mandated. See Bagley, 473 U.S. at 678, 105 S.Ct. at 3381. 236 Here, we are satisfied that defendants were accorded the lion's share of any evidence the government had that properly could have been used to impeach McKeehan. The defense incisively cross-examined him on the basis of this evidence. We do not feel the outcome of the proceedings would have been altered if defendants had been privy to the information which was withheld from them. 237 In the case of Rogers, defendants were furnished with copies of his plea agreement, which memorialized his guilty plea to the conspiracy charged in the case at bar, as well as to a RICO charge flowing from a pending investigation in the Eastern District of Tennessee. They were also given copies of Rogers' rap sheet, information regarding sundry other bad acts committed by him, and copies of five reports of government interviews with him. 238 The government did not, however, provide the defense with transcripts of FBI interviews with Rogers concerning his awareness of facts pertinent to the Tennessee RICO investigation. These documents were filed under seal with the district court, which found that they did not contain exculpatory information. We concur with the court's decision not to compel the release of this material. 239 The information concerning Parks' transportation of cocaine for Sam Scruggs in the summer of 1988, just prior to the time he joined the charged conspiracy, was also kept under seal by the district court. Much of it probably would not have been admissible as probative of Parks' character for truthfulness. See Fed.R.Evid. 608(b). At most, if disclosed to the defense, it would have constituted cumulative impeachment evidence. Accordingly, its suppression does not require that defendants' convictions be vitiated. Having thus concluded that the district court's handling of defendants' Brady and Jencks Act concerns was appropriate, Murr's contention must be rejected. 240 AFFIRMED.