Opinion ID: 1272426
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prosecution's failure to disclose promises made to Mikles

Text: The California Supreme Court and the district court each found that Mikles was provided significant inducements in exchange for his testimony against Jackson. In re Jackson, 3 Cal.4th 578, 592-93, 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 531, 835 P.2d 371 (1992). The state court referee found that when Mikles first approached the sheriffs and police departments, he conditioned his cooperation on assistance in (1) having a six-year sentence, previously imposed on him in Long Beach, recalled and reduced, (2) receiving as little time, or, if possible, no time, on a number of charges then pending against him in Norwalk, and (3) having a potential forty-two-month sentence for a federal parole violation reduced or eliminated. Id. at 592, 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 531, 835 P.2d 371. In return, members of the sheriff s and police departments promised that they would bring his cooperation to the attention of the judges and deputy district attorneys involved in his cases and use their best efforts to help him achieve his objectives, although they could not guarantee any specific results. Id. After Mikles's testimony, these officers kept their promises and made numerous favorable statements on behalf of Mikles in proceedings against him. Id. at 593, 11 Cal. Rptr.2d 531, 835 P.2d 371. In the end, Mikles received everything that he had requested: He was released from his six-year sentence, his parole hold was lifted, fifteen pending charges against him were dropped entirely, and he received a probationary sentence with no time in custody on a pending armed robbery conviction. Id. The State concedes that these inducements were offered and that they were not disclosed to the defense, but claims that the prosecutor was never made aware of them. The Supreme Court has made abundantly clear, however, that the prosecutor's duty to disclose evidence favorable to the accused extends to information known only to the police. Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 438, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). Nevertheless, the State argues that Kyles 's holding in 1995 created a new rule of criminal procedure and that Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989), prohibits its application to this case. Teague stands for the proposition that new constitutional rules of criminal procedure will not be applicable to those cases which have become final before the new rules are announced. Id. at 310, 109 S.Ct. 1060. Under the Teague framework, an old rule applies both on direct and collateral review, but a new rule is generally applicable only to cases that are still on direct review. Whorton v. Bockting, ___ U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 1173, 1180, 167 L.Ed.2d 1 (2007). Teague explains how we determine whether a new constitutional rule of criminal procedure is inapplicable to a given case: First, the court must determine when the defendant's conviction became final. Second, it must ascertain the legal landscape as it then existed, and ask whether the Constitution, as interpreted by the precedent then existing, compels the rule. That is, the court must decide whether the rule is actually new. Finally, if the rule is new, the court must consider whether it falls within either of the two exceptions to nonretroactivity. Beard v. Banks, 542 U.S. 406, 411, 124 S.Ct. 2504, 159 L.Ed.2d 494 (2004) (citations omitted). Jackson's case became final on direct appeal when the United States Supreme Court denied his petition for a writ of certiorari on March 30, 1981. Jackson v. California, 450 U.S. 1035, 101 S.Ct. 1750, 68 L.Ed.2d 232 (1981). Thus, we must examine the legal landscape as of that date to determine whether existing precedent compelled a finding that the rule[s] at issue `[were] required by the Constitution.' Hayes v. Brown, 399 F.3d 972, 983 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc) (quoting Lambrix v. Singletary, 520 U.S. 518, 527, 117 S.Ct. 1517, 137 L.Ed.2d 771 (1997)). [8] Kyles may have been the first Supreme Court case to find a Brady violation where the suppressed evidence was known only to the, police, but it did not create a new rule of criminal procedure. In Kyles itself, the Supreme Court observed that failing to hold the State accountable . . . for evidence known only to police investigators and not to the prosecutor . . . would . . . amount to a serious change of course from the. Brady line of cases. [9] 514 U.S. at 438, 115 S.Ct. 1555. Indeed, the principle underlying this unexceptional holding dates back, at the latest, to the Supreme Court's decision in Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972). In Giglio, both Napue and Brady errors were at issue. A federal prosecutor offered immunity to a key witness in return for grand jury and trial testimony. Id. at 152, 92 S.Ct. 763. After the witness testified before the grand jury, but before trial, the case was transferred to another prosecutor who was not aware of the immunity agreement. The witness testified for the government at trial, stating that he had not received any promises that he would not be indicted. Id. at 151-52, 92 S.Ct. 763. Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Burger found reversible error under Napue and Brady: [W]hether the nondisclosure was a result of negligence or design, it is the responsibility of the prosecutor. The prosecutor's office is an entity and as such it is the spokesman for the Government. A promise made by one attorney must be attributed, for these purposes, to the Government. Id. at 154, 92 S.Ct. 763 (citing Restatement. (Second) of Agency § 272). Giglio 's focus on the responsibility of the prosecutor to investigate all promises made on behalf of the government extends to promises made by the police, who also make any such promises as spokespersons for the government, and for whom the prosecutor bears responsibility. Subsequent cases between Giglio and Kyles also make clear that Kyles 's holding did not create a new rule of criminal procedure. In 1978, we held that: The prosecutor is responsible for the nondisclosure of assurances made to his principal witnesses even if such promises by other government agents were unknown to the prosecutor. Since the investigative officers are part of the prosecution, the taint on the trial is no less if they, rather than the prosecutor, were guilty of nondisclosure. United States v. Butler, 567 F.2d 885, 891 (9th Cir.1978) (citing Barbee v. Warden, 331 F.2d 842, 846 (4th Cir.1964) (citing Pyle v. Kansas, 317 U.S. 213, 63 S.Ct. 177, 87 L.Ed. 214 (1942))). A year later, the Fifth Circuit agreed, echoing the sentiments expressed in Giglio, when it held that [t]he duty[of] disclosure i§, that of the state, which ordinarily acts through the prosecuting attorney; but if he too is the victim of police suppression of the material information, the state's failure is not on that account excused. Freeman v. Georgia, 599 F.2d 65, 69-70 (5th Cir.1979) (quoting Barbee, 331 F.2d at 847). Later, in United States v. Steel, 759 F.2d 706 (9th Cir.1985), we reiterated that [b]ecause the government was required to furnish all exculpatory evidence under the doctrine of Brady . . ., and because investigative officers are part of the prosecution[under] Butler, . . . there was indeed a negligent nondisclosure. Id. at 714. As in Butler, we never suggested that this rule was in any way novel, and the State has cited not a single case plausibly suggesting the opposite. [10] Finally, it is instructive that in Jackson's own state habeas proceedings, the California Supreme Court rejected the State's argument that the prosecutor did not have a duty to disclose offers unknown to the prosecutor that were made by the police and sheriff's department. See In re Jackson, 3 Cal.4th 578, 595-96, 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 531, 835 P.2d 371 (1992) (discussing, inter alia, Brady, Giglio, and Barbee ). If the California Supreme Court felt compelled to follow such a rule in 1992, three years before Kyles, this suggests that the rule had been in existence well before 1995. Therefore, on March 30, 1981, the United States Constitution, as interpreted by Brady and Giglio, compelled prosecutors to disclose evidence favorable to the accused, even when that evidence was known only to the police and not to the prosecutor. Thus, Kyles did not declare a new rule of constitutional criminal procedure and Teague does not bar its application. The prosecution failed to disclose evidence favorable to Jackson, so the first two Brady elements are met. Whether prejudice ensued from this suppression will be addressed considering the prosecutorial errors collectively. Kyles, 514 U.S. at 436, 115 S.Ct. 1555.