Opinion ID: 202877
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Government's Disclosure Obligations

Text: Duval and Doucette argue that the Government failed to comply with its obligations under Brady and the Jencks Act to disclose exculpatory and impeaching evidence regarding Dyott and Ramos and that it should have been sanctioned accordingly. In addition, because of the belated disclosure that Ramos had been paid for his cooperation with the ATF, Duval and Doucette suggest that the Government may have failed to disclose additional payments made to Dyott and Ramos, and they argue that they were entitled to in camera review of the Government's records of payments to confidential informants. We review the district court's denial of sanctions and in camera review for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Rosario-Peralta, 175 F.3d 48, 55 (1st Cir.1999); United States v. Devin, 918 F.2d 280, 289 (1st Cir.1990). In Brady v. Maryland , the Supreme Court held that a prosecutor has a duty to disclose, upon request, evidence favorable to an accused . . . where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194; see also Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 154, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972) (reversing a conviction where the Government failed to disclose that it had granted immunity to a witness upon whose testimony the Government's case was heavily dependent). Likewise, under the Jencks Act, the prosecution has an obligation to provide, upon request, certain prior statements made by trial witnesses . . . that . . . `relate [] to the subject matter as to which the witness has testified.' United States v. Schneiderhan, 404 F.3d 73, 79 (1st Cir.2005) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3500(b)). To vacate a conviction because of a Brady violation, a defendant must show that the evidence at issue must be favorable to the accused, either because it is exculpatory, or because it is impeaching; that evidence must have been suppressed by the State, either willfully or inadvertently; and prejudice must have ensued. United States v. Casas, 356 F.3d 104, 114 (1st Cir.2004) (quoting United States v. Josleyn, 206 F.3d 144, 153 (1st Cir.2000)). The test for a Jencks Act violation is similar; we look to see whether the Government failed to disclose prior statements by witnesses that relate to their testimony at trial, and whether the nondisclosure was prejudicial. Schneiderhan, 404 F.3d at 79. When the issue is one of delayed disclosure rather than of nondisclosure, however, the test is whether defendant's counsel was prevented by the delay from using the disclosed material effectively in preparing and presenting the defendant's case. United States v. Ingraldi, 793 F.2d 408, 411-12 (1st Cir.1986); see also United States v. Arboleda, 929 F.2d 858, 864 (1st Cir.1991) (applying Ingraldi to allegations that the Government belatedly disclosed Jencks Act materials). We begin by noting that the Government's conduct during the course of this prosecution was a clear violation of its Brady and Jencks Act obligations. The Government amended its disclosures of potentially exculpatory evidence no less than five times, each time disclosing information that further cast doubt on the testimony of Dyott and Ramos, two of the Government's principal witnesses at trial. At least part of the problem appears to have been that the ATF agent involved in the investigation kept scant notes on conversations with Ramos that tended to exculpate his prime suspects, Duval and Doucette  a practice whose propriety is questionable. [2] Another part of the problem appears to have been shoddy record-keeping by the ATF with regard to payments to confidential informants. Finally, overly broad statements by the Government that all exculpatory information had been disclosed may have led Duval and Doucette to believe that the Government had in fact disclosed all that it knew, when it had not. Whether the late disclosures were the product of happenstance or of negligence is unclear, but we take this opportunity to remind prosecutors that disclosure of Brady and Jencks Act material is not a suggestion, but a constitutional and statutory obligation. We are mindful that not all convictions must be vacated because of non-compliance with disclosure obligations; we must also determine whether the late-disclosed information prejudiced Duval and Doucette's ability to present their case. The first set of evidence belatedly disclosed by the Government was impeachment evidence regarding Dyott, namely that he had been treated for mental illness and had been paid $5,750 and given leniency in a prior case in exchange for his services as a confidential informant. This information falls within the purview of Brady because it could be used to impeach the reliability and motivation of Dyott's testimony. However, the last of these disclosures occurred in October 2004, nearly six months before the start of the trial. This left sufficient time for Duval's and Doucette's counsel to incorporate the information into their defense strategy. While we do not condone the lateness of these disclosures, we do not find that the district court abused its discretion in determining that the lateness did not prejudice Duval and Doucette in the preparation of their cases, and that sanctions were not warranted. The second set of late disclosures involved statements by Ramos to Agent Meade that he had not heard Dyott and Doucette discussing the arms sale; this statement falls within the scope of material that must be disclosed under Brady because it casts doubt on both the Government's claim that the conversation occurred, and the claim that Duval heard the statement and adopted the implicit admission of criminal activity by remaining silent. It also falls within the ambit of the Jencks Act, as it is a prior statement by a witness that relates to his trial testimony. However, as the Government points out, Ramos remained missing until January 2005, and it is unclear that Duval and Doucette could have located him before then. Furthermore, Ramos admitted during cross-examination that he had told Meade that he did not remember hearing anything about the sale of arms at the motel, and that he did not tell Meade anything about the stolen car when they met in February 2003. Thus, even assuming that Doucette and Duval could have located Ramos before that time and interviewed him regarding his statement, it is unclear what benefit this would have been to the defense strategy. See Casas, 356 F.3d at 115 (finding no prejudice where defense counsel had an opportunity to cross-examine witness about belatedly disclosed cooperation agreement). Again, we do not find that the district court abused its discretion in determining that neither Duval nor Doucette were prejudiced by the late disclosure of Ramos's statement, and thus that sanctions were therefore not warranted. Finally, Duval and Doucette point to the mid-trial disclosure that the Government may have paid Ramos $50 in connection with his cooperation in another case. The Government has stated that it has no further records of payment, but Duval and Doucette, having observed a pattern of delayed disclosures, suggest otherwise. Thus, Duval and Doucette suggest that the proper remedy for this late disclosure is to give them the opportunity to examine the Government's confidential informant payment records to determine if other payments have been made to Ramos. [3] In the alternative, Duval and Doucette propose that we direct the court to engage in an in camera review of the records to determine whether additional exculpatory material exists. Duval and Doucette suggest that their case is similar to United States v. Rosario-Peralta, 175 F.3d 48 (1st Cir. 1999). In that case, various Government agencies had been pursuing a boat at sea that was observed dumping drugs overboard. Id. at 50-51. The principal defense theory was that the pursuing vessels had lost track of the boat engaged in the dumping, and that they had mistakenly seized the defendants' boat instead. Id. at 55. Accordingly, the defendants requested communication logs from the Government, which they argued would conclusively establish that their boat could not have been the same boat observed dumping drugs overboard. Id. at 54. We noted that the information in the logs was critical to defendants' theory and was a disputed issue at trial, and that we do not see how [the logs] could fail to be relevant. Id. at 55. Thus, we ordered in camera review of the logs to determine whether they contained potentially exculpatory evidence. Id. at 57. Two principal differences between the present case and Rosario-Peralta support our conclusion that the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to order in camera review of the Government's payment logs. First, the defendants in Rosario-Peralta made a clear showing that the evidence they sought in fact existed; the Government had acknowledged the existence of the communication logs and that they dealt with the defendants' case, but had argued that they were cumulative of other evidence presented. Here, Duval and Doucette have merely postulated a theory that additional records of payment to Ramos or Dyott exist; albeit a theory that was fostered by the Government's pattern of non-disclosure. While we emphasize that the Government's denial that additional Brady or Jencks Act material exists is not dispositive to our analysis, Duval and Doucette have not done much better than to take a shot in the dark. This is insufficient to establish the likelihood of a Brady violation, United States v. Caro-Muñiz, 406 F.3d 22, 30 (1st Cir.2005), and as such is certainly insufficient to require in camera review. Second, the material sought in Rosario-Peralta was undisputably directly relevant to the key issue in the case: the tapes would either potentially reveal that the defendants' boat had been the one pursued or that the Government had, in fact, lost track of the boat in question. In Duval and Doucette's case, even if there were an adequate showing that records of additional payments made to Ramos or Dyott existed, they would not bear directly on the guilt or innocence of either defendant. Although the records would have some utility as impeachment evidence, Duval and Doucette were already aware that Ramos and Dyott had accepted payments from the ATF. [4] Thus, the records would have been cumulative of other evidence, and it is unclear that their addition would have put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict. Casas, 356 F.3d at 114. Accordingly, the court did not err in denying Duval and Doucette's request to review the Government's records. See United States v. Nelson-Rodríguez, 319 F.3d 12, 35 (1st Cir. 2003) (holding that neither Brady nor the Jencks Act provides grounds for relief unless the exclusion or failure to produce prejudiced [the] defense). In short, while we disapprove of the practice of belated disclosures of Brady and Jencks Act material, we do not find that the Government's conduct in this case was so prejudicial that the district court abused its discretion in denying sanctions.