Opinion ID: 200371
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Brown Testimony

Text: Conley claimed that Robert Brown perjured himself at trial when he stated that state drug charges pending against him were manufactured by Boston police in retaliation for his testimony against Conley. According to the defense, the prosecution elicited this testimony in order to lend credibility to Brown by portraying him as having suffered for his testimony. See Conley II, 103 F.Supp. 2d at 52-54 (setting forth the perjury allegation in considerable detail). Conley alleged that the prosecutor solicited perjurious statements from Brown in direct examination and then relied on those statements in his closing argument. Conley has claimed that the government knew that Brown's statements were -42- perjurious because of a federal narcotics investigation against Brown. Although it is difficult to see how the Brown Testimony might be brought under the ambit of Brady, that is not an issue that needs to be addressed now because the district court determined that Conley failed to show that the Brown Testimony was perjurious. Id. at 54. The court found no evidence that Brown perjured himself, and additionally, expressed skepticism that evidence of a pending federal drug investigation against Brown would have been admissible under Fed. R. Evid. 403, 404(b) and 608(b). Because the court concluded as a matter of law that there was no perjury, there was no exculpatory evidence for the government to disclose under Brady.