Opinion ID: 1058529
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: statements to the commonwealth's attorney

Text: The Commonwealth's Summary informed Garnett that: [Duff] told the [C]ommonwealth[s] [A]ttorney when preparing for trial that she remembered following the defendant to his mother's (Hilda Garnett's) home during the beginning sequence of the events that took place on July 24, 2003 and that she had seen his mother at the sink. She stated that she followed him into the house because he had her car keys and wouldn't give them back. This is inconsistent with her testimony at the preliminary hearing on October 10, 2003 and with what she had previously told Investigator Michael. There is nothing in the Duff Statements on this matter. Garnett was aware of Duff's failure to include the walk to Garnett's house before the events in the barn occurred in some of her early statements and he cross-examined her on that point. There was simply no other disclosure to be made other than those in the Commonwealth's Summary. In sum, there is no precedent to support Garnett's claim that Brady encompasses a best evidence rule for impeachment material that required the disclosure of the Duff Statements verbatim. The Commonwealth's Summary is an accurate summary of the exculpatory information contained in the Duff Statements. There was not a failure to disclose on the part of the Commonwealth and thus Garnett fails to show a necessary element of a Brady claim. A fortiori, there was no prejudice to Garnett. [6] That is to say, the verbatim Duff Statements were not material in a Brady sense because there is not a reasonable probability that the trial would have resulted in a different outcome had Garnett had the verbatim statements. Lovitt v. Warden, 266 Va. 216, 244, 585 S.E.2d 801, 817 (2003). Accordingly, there is no error in the denial of Garnett's motion to set aside the verdict for a violation of Brady.