Opinion ID: 1771702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 34

Heading: Prosecutor's Failure to Disclose Exculpatory Evidence

Text: Defendant claims that the prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence regarding the 1989 murder at the direction of a drug dealer. Defendant was not prosecuted for the crime and gave conflicting accounts regarding his involvement. As a result, the prosecutor in this case presented no evidence about it during its case-in-chief in the penalty phase. However, in order to impeach one expert's report indicating that defendant only witnessed the crime, the prosecutor later introduced another expert's report in which defendant evidently admitted shooting at the victim. Appellate counsel argues [o]n information and belief that the prosecutor withheld exculpatory information about the crime while arguing in direct contradiction to it. Consequently, he contends that the prosecutor violated the rule set out in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and its progeny. However, defendant provides absolutely no factual support to bolster his claim that the prosecutor possessed any exculpatory evidence. The simple fact that the prosecutor did not introduce evidence about the 1989 incident does not show that the prosecutor possessed exculpatory evidence regarding that crime.