Opinion ID: 1185941
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Adequately Investigate Other Suspects.

Text: A confidential informant originally told an F.B.I. agent that Dorman was involved in the killing. Dorman maintains that subsequently the police centered their investigation on him to the exclusion of others who were at least as likely to have murdered Sutherland. The record reveals that the state was aware of the existence of other suspects prior to trial. [5] The record does not show whether the police made any effort to investigate or contact any of these people. [6] However, neither does the record indicate that Dorman was denied access to any evidence or investigative leads which the state had, or that any failure to investigate by the state was the result of a deliberate attempt to suppress or prevent the discovery of evidence. If exculpatory evidence comes to the attention of the prosecution during the course of the investigation, the prosecution has a duty to furnish defense counsel with its substance; deliberate suppression of evidence by the prosecution may violate a defendant's constitutional right to due process. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 86-87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 1196, 10 L.Ed.2d 215, 218 (1963); State v. Turrubiates, 25 Ariz. App. 234, 542 P.2d 427, 432-33 (1975). Negligence in criminal investigations is not to be condoned either. But without evidence of bad faith in the investigation or purposeful hindrance of Dorman's own ability to pursue investigative leads, we cannot conclude that any investigative defects in this case require a new trial. Dorman's counsel took the opportunity to argue to the jury that the state's investigation of other suspects was inadequate, and the jury did not agree. [7] We think denial of the motion for a new trial on this ground was proper.