Opinion ID: 2607422
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: lost or destroyed physical evidence

Text: The evidence in question consisted of a nine millimeter pistol, bullet slugs, and shell casings seized by law enforcement officers at the scene of the shooting and a bullet slug taken from the body of one of the victims. The evidence in question was used to convict Hoat in April 1987. The trial court retained custody of the evidence, pending Hoat's appeal. This court affirmed Hoat's conviction in an unpublished opinion in December 1988. The trial judge for Hoat's case put the evidence in storage because he was moving to a different office. A decision was made to dispose of evidence no longer in use. Except for a bullet discussed in the next paragraph, the evidence in question was disposed of during that process. The State maintains the bullet taken from the body of one of the victims never made it into evidence because it was destroyed in an autoclave while being sterilized. The bullet was sterilized because the victim had infectious hepatitis. The defendant maintains the autoclave process could not have destroyed the bullet. Whether the State destroyed it with the other evidence or it became unavailable because of the sterilization process, the bullet is not available. The defendant argues that the failure to preserve evidence prejudiced his defense that he had not been the one to shoot the victims because he was unable to have the evidence tested independently. His underlying claim is that his due process rights were violated. In State v. Carmichael, 240 Kan. 149, 152-53, 727 P.2d 918 (1986), this court discussed the unavailability of evidence: A defendant has a constitutionally protected privilege to request and obtain from the prosecution evidence that is material to the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Suppression of such evidence is a violation of the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment due process rights. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87, 10 L.Ed.2d 215, 83 S.Ct. 1194 (1963). Prosecutors are under a positive duty, independent of court order, to disclose exculpatory evidence to a defendant. To justify a reversal of a conviction for failure to disclose evidence, the evidence withheld by the prosecution must be clearly exculpatory and the withholding of the evidence must be clearly prejudicial to the defendant. There are three classifications regarding suppression of evidence: (1) where there is a deliberate bad faith suppression for the purpose of obstructing the defense or intentional failure to disclose evidence which has high probative value and which could not have escaped the prosecutor's attention; (2) where there is a deliberate refusal to honor a request for evidence where evidence is material to guilt or punishment, irrespective of the prosecutor's good or bad faith in refusing the request; and (3) where suppression was not deliberate and no request for evidence was made, but where hindsight discloses that the defense could have put the evidence to significant use. [Citation omitted.] .... Evidence is exculpatory if it tends to disprove a fact in issue which is material to guilt or punishment.... The question then is whether the defendant was materially prejudiced by the unavailability of the evidence.... The proper standard of materiality must reflect our overriding concern with the justice of the finding of guilt. Such a finding is permissible only if supported by evidence establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It necessarily follows that if the omitted evidence creates a reasonable doubt that did not otherwise exist, constitutional error has been committed. This means that the omission must be evaluated in the context of the record. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 112, 49 L.Ed.2d 342, 96 S.Ct. 2392 (1976). Here, the suppression of evidence must fall within the third category listed above, which this court has referred to as the oversight classification. See State v. Pearson, 234 Kan. 906, 911-12, 678 P.2d 605 (1984). If the suppression of evidence is an oversight, as here, a defendant is granted a new trial only if the record establishes (1) that evidence is withheld or suppressed by the prosecution, (2) that the evidence withheld was clearly exculpatory, and (3) that the exculpatory evidence withheld was so material that the withholding of the same from the jury was clearly prejudicial. [Citation omitted.] Pearson, 234 Kan. at 916. The defendant argues the evidence was material because it was used in the prosecution of a companion case against Hoat that arose out of the same incident. He also claims that his defense was prejudiced because he was unable to run independent analyses of the evidence that might have resulted in different findings. The defendant suggests that [u]nder such circumstances, it is unfair to claim that [he] has not shown that the evidence would be exculpatory or to his benefit, because the action of the government, in destroying or misplacing the evidence, has conclusively prevented him from making such a showing. In support, the defendant cites cases from other jurisdictions. The defendant, however, fails to discuss State v. Pearson , in which this court addressed and disposed of a similar argument. In Pearson, the State's testing consumed all of the material, and it was the material destroyed that Pearson was charged with criminally possessing. The Pearson court stated: In the absence of fraud or bad faith on the part of the State and its investigative agents, due process does not require the State to invite the accused to participate in or supervise testing procedures performed in the investigation of a crime, even where the amount of evidence to be tested is so small sufficient material will not remain to allow the defendant to conduct an independent analysis of the evidence. The defendant's due process rights are sufficiently protected by the opportunity to challenge the credibility of the State's expert and validity of the testing procedures used through cross-examination or expert testimony. 234 Kan. at 916. Here, the defendant had the opportunity to challenge the credibility of the State's experts and the validity of the testing procedures used by cross-examining the expert witness. Additionally, the evidence does not support the defendant's claim that he did not shoot any of the victims. Although no reliable evidence exists concerning the number of shots fired, three people were shot, one of them twice. Therefore, at least four shots were fired. On the night the crimes were committed, the law enforcement officers recovered two nine millimeter Lugar cartridge cases, one lead bullet, and one copper-jacketed bullet. A bullet was later removed from a victim. A bullet slug was recovered from Kheum S. Em's residence a couple of weeks later. All the evidence was that Phung had the nine millimeter automatic, which would eject cartridge cases, and that the defendant had the 38 revolver, which when fired would not eject the spent cartridge case. The evidence supports a finding that at least two of the defendant's shots from the 38 revolver struck the victims. The defendant also claims the evidence was material because it would have bolstered his defense that he had no intent to rob and was not aware his companions had any intent to rob. His argument is he was prejudiced because he was prevented from showing that, although he fired a weapon, he did not fire the shots that killed or wounded the victims. He fails to take into account that, under felony murder, with which he was charged, who pulled the trigger is immaterial. See State v. Myrick & Nelms, 228 Kan. 406, 416, 616 P.2d 1066 (1980). In denying the defendant's motion to dismiss based on the unavailability of evidence, the trial court stated that if the evidence was of such a nature that it possibly would cause a jury to reach a different result, it would dismiss the case. The trial court determined that it had received no proffer from defense to show ... exactly how those tests could possibly change the results of this case, other than ... maybe to attack expert testimony. The trial court did not err in denying the defendant's motion to dismiss or in admitting the testimony regarding the evidence. If the unavailable evidence had been available, it would not have prevented the jury from finding the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The unavailability of the evidence did not materially prejudice the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.