Opinion ID: 1188017
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Disclosure of Exculpatory Witness.

Text: The first issue is whether the State failed to disclose the existence of an essential and exculpatory witness to the defense. It is well established that the deliberate suppression by the prosecutor of evidence favorable to and requested by the accused violates due process when the evidence is material either to guilt or punishment. Montoya v. Metropolitan Court, 21 N.M.St. B.Bull. 1120, 98 N.M. ___, 651 P.2d 1260 (1982). See United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976); Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963); Mooney v. Holohan, 294 U.S. 103, 55 S.Ct. 340, 79 L.Ed. 791 (1935). In Brady v. Maryland, supra, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1196, the United States Supreme Court held that: [T]he suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request 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. In this case, Gallegos reportedly informed Warden Romero that he had seen Colby leaving the recreation yard on the day of the homicide at a point in time before the homicide occurred. Additionally, Gallegos also said that he did not observe any blood spots on Colby's pants, as he had the opportunity to observe Colby's pants when he pat-searched Colby. At the threshold, we must inquire whether the existence of Gallegos or his statements are newly discovered evidence. In State v. Mabry, 96 N.M. 317, 322, 630 P.2d 269, 274 (1981), this Court said: A motion for a new trial is properly denied unless the newly-discovered evidence is such that (1) it will probably change the result if a new trial is granted; (2) is must have been discovered since the trial; (3) it must be such that it could not have been discovered before the trial by the exercise of due diligence; (4) it must be material to the issue; (5) it must not be merely cumulative; and (6) it must not be merely impeaching or contradictory. The general rule is that motions for a new trial are not favored and will only be granted upon a showing of a clear abuse by the trial court. State v. Ramirez, 79 N.M. 475, 444 P.2d 986 (1968); State v. Fuentes, 67 N.M. 31, 351 P.2d 209 (1960). To determine whether the existence of Gallegos or his statements is newly discovered we must further inquire whether Gallegos' statements made to the State prison correctional authorities, but never related to the prosecution attorneys, were nonetheless a nondisclosure by the prosecution, deliberate or otherwise, of evidence favorable to the accused. Brady v. Maryland, supra . If the nondisclosure of the evidence is both material and prejudicial to the defendant, a new trial is warranted. Trimble v. State, 75 N.M. 183, 402 P.2d 162 (1965); State v. Morris, 69 N.M. 244, 365 P.2d 668 (1961); Chacon v. State, 88 N.M. 198, 539 P.2d 218 (Ct.App. 1975). In this case, however, there is simply no evidence that the State prosecution knew and deliberately failed to disclose either the existence of Gallegos or his statements to the defense. At the hearing on Colby and Stephens' motion for a new trial, the following colloquy occurred between the State prosecution and Gallegos: Q. Mr. Gallegos, did you testify previously at the trial of these [Colby and Stephens] gentlemen? A. No. Q. Were you spoken to by any of the defense attorneys? A. No. In fact, there is no evidence that the State prosecution was even aware of the nature of Gallegos' statements until the hearing on Colby and Stephens' motion for a new trial. We therefore find that there was no deliberate nondisclosure by the prosecution of the existence of Gallegos or his statements that would warrant the granting of a new trial. United States v. Agurs, supra ; Brady v. Maryland, supra ; Mooney v. Holohan, supra . We must next proceed to determine whether the nondisclosure, even if not deliberate, may have been a negligent nondisclosure to the defense. Chacon v. State, supra . In Chacon, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and granted the accused a new trial. The court held that an inadvertent nondisclosure of a supplemental police report and the statement of a witness, which was in the possession of the district attorney, but had been placed in the wrong file, warranted adequate grounds to grant a new trial. Here, there has been no assertion of proof that the State prosecution ever had Gallegos' statement at their disposal, but inadvertently refused to disclose it to the defense. Again, there is no evidence in this case that the State prosecution had knowledge of Gallegos' statement. Cf. State v. Payne, 96 N.M. 347, 630 P.2d 299 (Ct.App. 1981). We decline to impute to the prosecution as knowledge every conversation, or every statement, made to a prison official regarding a prisoner who may be charged with the commission of a crime. Our disclosure requirements as provided in N.M.R.Crim.P. 27, 28 and 30, N.M.S.A. 1978 (Repl.Pamp. 1980), contemplate that the State has a duty to disclose material evidence favorable to the defendant, of which it has knowledge. The defendant also has a corresponding duty to make available to the prosecution his or her list of witnesses and such documents and papers and reports which he or she intends to use as evidence at trial, and that there shall be a continuing duty of disclosure on both of the parties. See State v. Manus, 93 N.M. 95, 597 P.2d 280 (1979); State v. Gallegos, 96 N.M. 54, 627 P.2d 1253 (Ct.App. 1981). Necessary to this concept of disclosure before trial, is the implicit understanding that both parties will exercise due diligence to ascertain the truth. The defense in this case, at Colby and Stephens' first trial, had access to a wide variety of witnesses. The State prosecution made available its files, records, and witness list to the defense. A defense attorney even went so far as to characterize the discovery package made available to them by the State prosecution as a pretty good set of discovery from the State of New Mexico. An attorney representing the then co-defendant Price, also indicated that the defense investigator did a very thorough investigation throughout the State of New Mexico and that we pretty much interviewed everybody. Notably, in Colby and Stephens' witness list, was Warden Romero. Whether Colby and Stephens' attorneys actually ever interviewed Warden Romero is unclear from the record. However, Colby and Stephens certainly had the opportunity to interview him. Furthermore, Colby and Stephens never followed through on their intention to call Warden Romero as a defense witness. Accordingly, we feel that the defense here had an affirmative city to exercise due diligence to discover witnesses that would tend to exculpate an accused if believed, before trial. State v. Mabry, supra . The trial record shows that both Stephens and Colby saw three or four prison guards at the gate before they left the recreation yard. If nothing else, Colby and Stephens should have revealed this information to their defense attorneys. The role of the accused in a criminal proceeding is not the passive role of a bystander, merely awaiting an outcome of a trial. The accused must vigorously contest the charges brought against him and refute such charges by such evidence that he is able to muster. The defense may not be unduly relaxed in their search for evidence that is favorable and expect deficiencies to be remedied with a motion for a new trial. State v. Morris, 101 Idaho 120, 609 P.2d 652 (1980). This was especially true in this case where Colby and Stephens elected to have an alibi defense. It was therefore incumbent upon them to discover before trial witnesses that would corroborate or substantiate their story. To now raise the issue that either Gallegos or his statement is newly discovered evidence begs the question of the duty of the accused to help his own case before trial. If the petitioners' case was prejudiced by the nondiscovery of Gallegos it can be substantially attributed to Colby and Stephens' lack of due diligence and the nondiscovery was therefore self-inflicted. For these reasons, the existence of witness Gallegos and the existence and nature of his statements could and should have been discovered by them before trial and do not now constitute newly discovered evidence. State v. Mabry, supra .