Opinion ID: 2305923
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Officer Scanzello's relationship with Jade Wong

Text: Appellant's next Brady claim relates to the revelation that Office Scanzello had a romantic relationship with Jade Wong within the year before her death, a relationship that the Commonwealth failed to disclose. Officer Scanzello testified that he had disclosed to ADA Fisk prior to trial that he had had a relationship with the victim but that Fisk saw no need to disclose the information, and instructed Scanzello to tell the truth if asked. He also acknowledged that he testified at trial that he knew the Wong family prior to the murder. N.T.(PCRA), 4/7/00, at 855-58. At the PCRA hearing, trial counsel stated that he had not been informed of Officer Scanzello's prior romantic relationship with the victim, and would have used that information to suggest bias and a possible explanation for a change in Scanzello's testimony concerning whether he could or could not see Appellant. N.T.(PCRA), 4/4/00, at 370-72. Apparently, Officer Scanzello in his original statement asserted that, based on the seating arrangement of the three men, he clearly saw the faces of two individuals, but that he did not see the face of the other individual, who would have been Appellant. At trial, however, he testified unequivocally that he saw Appellant at the restaurant. Before the PCRA court, trial defense counsel stated, I also knew that there were two other officers in that restaurant that evening, ... neither of which were willing to come forward and testify at that trial, and I wondered why the other two officers weren't in court at the time when he was willing to do so. N.T.(PCRA), 4/4/00, at 397. The Commonwealth contends that this information does not exonerate the Appellant, nor does it constitute impeachment evidence, as it does not provide the officer with a reason to be biased toward misidentifying Appellant. We agree that the relationship was not revealed to trial counsel and we accept trial counsel's suggestion that the information could have been used to suggest that Officer Scanzello had a bias toward securing a conviction for the crime in order to provide the family of his former girlfriend with closure. We, however, hold that prejudice did not result from the non-disclosure because Officer Scanzello already testified at trial to having a relationship with the family prior to the murder. Thus, any arguable bias in favor of securing a conviction could have been pursued at trial based on his friendship with the family.