Opinion ID: 1090533
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Giglio/Newly Discovered Evidence Claim Concerning Paul Skalnik's Testimony

Text: In his second issue on appeal, Dailey claims that six documents written and signed by Paul Skalnik either: (a) establish that the State knowingly presented false testimony, in violation of Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972); or (b) constitute newly discovered evidence that Skalnik testified falsely at Dailey's trial. The six documents offered by Dailey include various motions and letters written by Skalnik at least a year after Dailey's conviction. [6] In these documents, Skalnik alleges that the State promised him favorable treatment in return for testifying against Dailey and several defendants in other trials. We discuss the Giglio and newly discovered evidence claims in turn. To establish a valid claim under Giglio, a defendant must show that (1) some testimony at trial was false, (2) the prosecutor knew that the testimony was false, and (3) the testimony was material. Suggs v. State, 923 So.2d 419, 426 (Fla. 2005). This Court applies a mixed standard of review to Giglio claims, `defer[ring] to the factual findings made by the trial court to the extent they are supported by competent, substantial evidence, but review[ing] de novo the application of those facts to the law.' Id. (alterations in original) (quoting Sochor v. State, 883 So.2d 766 (Fla.2004)). The documents presented at the evidentiary hearing fail the first and second prongs of Giglio. Skalnik's allegations, made a full year after Dailey's conviction, do not prove that he testified falsely at trial. His unsubstantiated accusations also fail to establish that the prosecutor knowingly presented false testimony. At the evidentiary hearing, Skalnik disavowed the accusations contained in the six documents and unequivocally stated that they were false. The prosecutor in Dailey's case also testified that she believed Skalnik's testimony to be truthful at the time of trial. Based on this testimony and the fact that the documents in question were unsubstantiated allegations written a full year after Dailey's trial, we affirm the denial of Dailey's Giglio claim. To succeed on a claim of newly discovered evidence, a defendant must meet two requirements: first, the evidence must not have been known by the party or counsel at the time of trial, and the defendant or defense counsel seemingly could not have known of it by the use of due diligence; second, the newly discovered evidence must be of such a type that it would probably produce an acquittal on retrial. Melton v. State, 949 So.2d 994, 1011 (Fla. 2006). For the reasons discussed above in relation to the Giglio claim, we also find that Dailey has failed to establish that Skalnik's letters and motions would probably produce an acquittal on retrial. Therefore, the trial court's denial of Dailey's newly discovered evidence claim was proper.