Opinion ID: 784041
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Culpability Phase

Text: 150 Smith contends that during the guilt phase, the prosecutor introduced victim-impact evidence, engaged in improper argument, failed to disclose favorable impeachment evidence, and failed to disclose that a police officer saw a blue car with the back window missing. 151
152 During his opening statement, the prosecutor introduced testimony regarding the size of the victim's family. The victim's daughter also testified to the extent of the victim's remaining family members. We refuse to hold that these two comments, made to a three-judge panel, so infected the trial as to render it fundamentally unfair. 153 Smith further objects to the prosecutor's comment describing the crime as cold and calculating, his statement that Smith robbed the victim while blood spurted out her neck, and his statement that Smith got up the next morning and celebrated. We believe that these statements are reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence presented at trial. See Byrd v. Collins, 209 F.3d 486, 536 (6th Cir.2000). In any event, these statements, like the preceding ones, were not so egregious as to render the trial fundamentally unfair. See id. 154
155 Smith contends that the prosecutor failed to disclose favorable impeachment evidence as required by Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Specifically, Smith claims that the prosecutor failed to reveal that Brenda Henson, who tended bar at the Race Inn, testified that she knew Smith as a customer at the bar. Smith also claims that the prosecutor failed to disclose an eyewitness Jane Echols, who had been with Mary Bradford at the bar. Echols purportedly could not identify Smith as the man who left the bar with the victim. Smith also asserts that the prosecutor failed to disclose that a police officer saw a blue car with the back window missing, which was not Smith's car, outside the victim's residence. 156 Materiality is an essential element of a Brady claim. Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194. We agree with the district court that: 157 Without deciding whether the State actually withheld the evidence, this Court finds that the witness statements alleged to have been withheld by the State are neither exculpatory nor material.... First, with respect to the identification of Petitioner by Ms. Henson, the fact that she identified Petitioner as a patron of the bar, as well as a possible perfume salesman are neither contradictory to her testimony, nor material. There were no inconsistencies in the identification of Petitioner and no showing has been made by Petitioner that the standards for materiality have been met. Second, the testimony of Janice Echols was not material, as she could neither include nor exclude Petitioner as the person who left the bar with the victim. In sum, the allegedly withheld exculpatory evidence is simply not compelling. Smith v. Anderson, 104 F.Supp.2d at 824-25. This claim is without merit. 11