Opinion ID: 6341055
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: R.P.C. 3.8(d).

Text: 18 Campbell’s reliance on the Ninth Circuit’s footnote is misplaced, as is his reliance on the Rules of Professional Conduct. As the Supreme Court has explained, “[t]he Brady rule is based on the requirement of due process.” United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 675 (1985). “Its purpose is not to displace the adversary system as the primary means by which truth is uncovered, but to ensure that a miscarriage of justice does not occur.” Id. (footnote omitted). “Thus, the prosecutor is not required to deliver his entire file to defense counsel, but only to disclose evidence favorable to the accused that, if suppressed, would deprive the defendant of a fair trial[.]” Id. (footnote omitted). “An interpretation of Brady to create a broad, constitutionally required right of discovery ‘would entirely alter the character and balance of our present systems of criminal justice.’ ” Id. at 675 n.7 (quoting Giles v. Maryland, 386 U.S. 66, 117, (1967) (Harlan, J., dissenting)). “Furthermore, a rule that the prosecutor commits error by any failure to disclose evidence favorable to the accused, no matter how insignificant, would impose an impossible burden on the prosecutor[.]” Id. The United States Supreme Court has been clear: a prosecutor need only disclose favorable evidence that is also material. Id. Additionally, Campbell provides no authority to support his contention that he may challenge the nondisclosure of favorable evidence under the Rules of Professional Conduct, nor is it likely that he could have: “Violation of a Rule [of Professional Conduct] should not itself give rise to a cause of action against a lawyer nor should it create any presumption in such a case that a legal duty has been breached.” I.R.P.C. Scope, para. 20. “The fact that a Rule is a just basis . . . for sanctioning a lawyer under the administration of a disciplinary authority[] does not imply that an antagonist in a collateral proceeding or transaction has standing to seek enforcement of the Rule.” Id. The district court applied the correct Brady standard. 2. The district court did not err in concluding the undisclosed evidence was not required to be disclosed under Brady. We next address the substance of the undisclosed evidence and conclude that the district court did not err in ruling that the undisclosed evidence was not required to be disclosed under Brady. The district court concluded the undisclosed evidence “fail[ed] to meet the materiality requirements for disclosure under a Brady analysis.” “When assessing the materiality, ‘the question is whether the favorable evidence could reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the [outcome].’ ” Thumm v. State, 165 Idaho 405, 423–24, 447 P.3d 853, 871–72 (2019) (quoting 19 Strickler, 527 U.S. at 290). “Such evidence is material ‘if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.’ ” Strickler, 527 U.S. at 280. We conclude that the undisclosed evidence is not material to Campbell’s guilt or punishment. The “outcome” for purposes of this Brady analysis is the sentence Campbell received. Therefore, the relevant question is whether there is a reasonable probability that Campbell’s sentence would have been different considering the evidence. We conclude there is not. The Instagram account was neither created nor used to identify the alleged victims until after Campbell pleaded guilty and received his sentence. In this case, Campbell’s criminal conduct occurred in 2019, he was sentenced on March 6, 2020, and the Instagram account was created and identified the victims on March 12, 2020. The account’s creation and content was immaterial to the outcome of an event which occurred on March 6. Consequently, the district court did not err in concluding that the undisclosed evidence did not result in prejudice to Campbell. Because we agree with the district court that the undisclosed evidence was immaterial to Campbell’s guilt or punishment, we need not reach the remaining two Brady factors. See Thumm, 165 Idaho at 424, 447 P.3d at 872. As a result, the district court did not err in concluding that the evidence was not subject to disclosure under Brady. F. The district court did not violate Campbell’s Eighth Amendment rights because it properly considered Campbell’s youth as a mitigating factor during sentencing. After filing his opening brief, Campbell filed a supplemental brief contending that the district court violated the Eighth Amendment by not considering the “unique attributes of youth” in imposing Campbell’s sentence. Campbell argues that the district court “specifically and intentionally” disregarded his youth in contravention of United States Supreme Court case law involving juvenile offenders. Campbell cites Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), and Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), to support his argument. Specifically, Campbell contends that the district court failed to consider the differences between juvenile and adult offenders when it focused on the nature of the offenses committed by Campbell. Campbell further asserts that the district court placed “undue emphasis on the punishment aspect of sentencing in violation of the teachings of Roper, Graham, and Miller.” In response, the State first argues that none of the categorically prohibited juvenile sentences in the cited cases are implicated in this case. The State attacks Campbell’s reliance on cases from other jurisdictions to support his contention that Miller should apply to all juvenile 20 sentencing proceedings, noting that the Idaho Supreme Court has already rejected this argument in State v. Shanahan, 165 Idaho at 350, 445, P.3d at 159. Instead, the State points out that most states that have considered this issue have concluded that Miller’s rationale only applies to a sentence of life without parole for a juvenile. See, e.g., State v. Link, 482 P.3d 28, 43–47 (Or. 2021). The State asserts that Campbell has failed to show that Miller’s Eighth Amendment standard applies because Campbell’s sentence was not life without parole. Even if Miller applied here, the State contends that Campbell’s argument fails because a sentencing judge has the discretion to determine how much weight to give mitigating factors such as youth. The State concludes that the district court considered youth as a mitigating factor that was “outweighed in full or in part by aggravating factors such as the heinousness and repeated nature of Campbell’s crimes.” In reply, Campbell discusses the recent Supreme Court case Jones v. Mississippi, 141 S. Ct. 1307 (2021), and asserts that it reaffirmed the principle that youth must be considered as a mitigating factor during sentencing. Campbell next argues that State v. Shanahan is not dispositive because its statement that not “every juvenile sentenced as an adult is entitled to consideration of the Miller factors” was merely dicta which conflicts with United States Supreme Court case law. Campbell again asserts that the district court did not consider his youth as a mitigating factor at sentencing. Campbell assigns error to the district court’s statement that it could not find that Campbell’s “culpability is diminished to any great degree by the transient immaturity of youth based upon the way the offenses were committed.” The Eighth Amendment prohibits the infliction of “cruel and unusual punishments.” U.S. CONST. amend. VIII. “Where a punishment is grossly disproportionate to a crime, the Eighth Amendment is violated.” Shanahan, 165 Idaho at 348, 445 P.3d at 157. In the context of youth, the United States Supreme Court has held that juvenile offenders must be afforded “heightened constitutional protections.” Orozco, 168 Idaho at 278, 483 P.3d at 335. The Supreme Court has prohibited sentencing a juvenile to death, Roper, 543 U.S. at 578-79, or to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Graham, 560 U.S. at 82, Miller, 567 U.S. at 489, because such punishments violate the Eighth Amendment. This Court discussed Miller at length in Shanahan, 165 Idaho at 348, 445 P.3d at 157. In Shanahan, a juvenile was sentenced to a 35-year fixed term for a homicide he committed during a robbery. Id. at 346, 445 P.3d at 155. Over twenty years later, Shanahan filed a Rule 35 motion to 21 correct an illegal sentence, arguing that Miller required him to be resentenced to reflect his “youth and its attendant circumstances.” Id. at 347, 445 P.3d at 156. This Court concluded that Miller’s rationale—that life without parole sentences are prohibited for juveniles unless the crime “reflects irreparable corruption”—only “extends to determinate sentences that are the functional equivalent of a life sentence.” Id. at 349, 445 P.3d at 157 (italics added). This Court next concluded that Shanahan’s life sentence with 35 years fixed was not the functional equivalent of a life sentence without the possibility of parole: [a]lthough Shanahan will be middle-aged when he becomes eligible for release, he still has a meaningful opportunity to obtain release—and much of his life ahead of him—if he can demonstrate that he is sufficiently rehabilitated and qualifies for parole. The Court is not satisfied that such a result is unjust under the circumstances of this case. Id. at 352, 445 P.3d at 161. As such, the Court held that Miller did not apply and that the 35-year fixed term did not violate the Eighth Amendment. Id. The rationale set forth in Shanahan is equally applicable to Campbell. Unlike the defendant in Shanahan, who received an indeterminate life sentence with only a portion of it fixed, here, Campbell was not given a life sentence. Campbell was sentenced to twenty years fixed; a sentence that is clearly not the functional equivalent of a life sentence. In fact, Campbell, who was seventeen years old when he committed these offenses, will be 37 years old when he becomes eligible for parole. As this Court concluded in Shanahan, Campbell will have “much of his life ahead of him” when he becomes eligible for release. The fixed portion of his sentence, twenty years, is markedly less than Shanahan’s 35-year fixed sentence, which this Court concluded was not the functional equivalent of a life without parole sentence. As such, Miller does not apply to bar Campbell’s twenty-year fixed term. Further, we do not dispute that sentencing courts must consider a juvenile’s youth. See Jones, 141 S.Ct. at 1314. Here, contrary to Campbell’s assertion, the district court fully considered Campbell’s youth as well as the applicable Supreme Court case law regarding juvenile sentencing: I thought about the question of a blended sentence as I could impose under [Idaho Code section] 19-2601A. I’ve considered your, as the case law describes it, transient immaturity of youth. I’m familiar with juvenile sentencing jurisprudence as set forth in Roper versus Simmons, Graham versus Florida, and Miller versus Alabama. Roper was a capital case. It has no real application here. Graham was a life without parole case as was Miller. None of them have any direct application here, but the reasoning set forth in those cases and in Windom versus State, [162 22 Idaho 417, 398 P.3d 150 (2017),] in this case is useful in trying to arrive at an appropriate sentence. A blended sentence refers to the expanded sentencing discretion a district court has in a case, such as this one, where a juvenile is charged as an adult. Idaho Code section 20-509(4) permits the court, “if a finding is made that adult sentencing measures would be inappropriate,” to either: (a) Sentence the convicted person in accordance with the juvenile sentencing options set forth in this chapter; or (b) Sentence the convicted person to the county jail or to the custody of the state board of correction but suspend the sentence pursuant to section 192601A, Idaho Code, and commit the defendant to the dual custody of the department of juvenile corrections and the state board of correction. Orozco, 168 Idaho at 281 n.10, 483 P.3d at 338 n.10 (quoting I.C. § 20-509(4)); see also I.C. § 192601A. Blended sentences are only permitted in cases involving juveniles. The district court expressly considered whether to impose a blended sentence, which means it considered Campbell’s age in reaching its decision. The district court also concluded that Campbell was not “irreparably corrupt,” while at the same time noting that it could not “find that [Campbell’s] culpability [wa]s diminished to any great degree by the transient immaturity of youth based upon the way these offenses were committed.” The district court repeatedly referred to the serial and violent nature of Campbell’s multiple rapes, as well as his ability to express remorse while continuing to engage in heinous conduct. It was permissible for the district court to weigh Campbell’s youth in tandem with the nature of Campbell’s conduct. It is clear from the record before us that the district court considered Campbell’s youth in tailoring the sentence that was ultimately imposed. As such, we conclude that the sentence imposed does not violate the Eighth Amendment because the district court properly considered Campbell’s youth in reaching its sentencing decision.