Opinion ID: 155680
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: e xculpatory e vidence

Text: In his second claim, Mr. Duvall asserts that the prosecution violated his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights by failing to disclose a material exculpatory statement to the defense. On January 8, 1987, Mr. Duvall’s attorney filed a “Motion to Produce Information Necessary to Receive a Fair Trial.” In the motion, Mr. Duvall specifically requested: - 29 - 6. Any information within the District Attorney’s possession or control which tends to negate the guilt of the accused or which would tend to reduce his punishment. 7. Any statement pertaining to this cause of any person taken by the District Attorney or his assistants, or any of their agents. .... 11. The District Attorney’s entire file on the victim or any reports prepared by law enforcement personnel that relate to the victim. R. at 40. At a hearing on April 9, 1987, the State advised Mr. Duvall’s attorney that he had disclosed all exculpatory evidence in the government’s files. The trial judge nevertheless concluded that he would review the files. No additional information was produced as a result of the trial judge’s review. Mr. Duvall contends that despite the district attorney’s assurances and the trial judge’s review, the district attorney failed to reveal the substance of an assistant district attorney’s conversation with Lynn Howard, a former neighbor of the Duvalls. Ms. Howard allegedly stated that she had observed Karla Duvall “shooting up drugs.” Ms. Howard also allegedly told the assistant district attorney that the abscesses on Karla’s body resulted from “shooting drugs.” Duvall v. Reynolds, No. CIV-94-404-M, slip op. at 11 (W.D. Okla. Aug. 22, 1996). In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963), the Supreme Court held that “suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request - 30 - violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.” The materiality requirement is met “only if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different.” United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682 (1985). In other, words, evidence is material “when the Government’s evidentiary suppression ‘undermines confidence in the outcome of the trial.’” Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 434 (1995) (quoting Bagley, 473 U.S. at 678); see also United States v. Hernandez, 94 F.3d 606, 610 (10th Cir. 1996). Mr. Duvall concedes that Ms. Howard’s statement would not have altered the outcome of the guilt phase of the trial. Mr. Duvall does argue, however, that there is a reasonable probability that Ms. Howard’s information would have changed the result in the penalty phase of the trial. Mr. Duvall asserts that Ms. Howard’s statements would have supported his theory that he had spent the morning of the murder trying to stop his wife’s drug use. Such mitigating evidence, Mr. Duvall contends, would have been critical during the penalty phase of the trial. We disagree. After reviewing the entire record, we conclude that there is no reasonable probability that disclosure of Ms. Howard’s statement would have produced a different verdict. The jury was already aware that Mr. Duvall claimed - 31 - that he murdered his wife because of her drug use. Moreover, when Mr. Duvall’s attorney investigated Mr. Duvall’s claims that Karla abused drugs, he found no other objective evidence to support these claims. For example, the state’s medical examiner, Dr. Fred Jordan, testified that he found no evidence of drug use by the victim. In addition, Connie McKinney, the victim’s neighbor, testified that Karla did not appear to be using drugs when she spoke with her on the evening of her death. Ms. McKinney also testified that she had not observed Karla using drugs in the year that Ms. McKinney had known the victim. Under these circumstances, we are confident that the outcome of the penalty phase would have been the same had this evidence been disclosed to the defense. Thus, Mr. Duvall is not entitled to habeas relief on this ground.