Opinion ID: 721475
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Clearly Established Law Prohibited Police Suppression of Exculpatory and Impeachment Evidence

Text: 64 Tate, Ikner, and Benson are protected by qualified immunity unless their actions violated clearly established law. Pre-existing law as of 1987 and 1988, when they acted, must have made it obvious to every like-situated, reasonable government agent that withholding the exculpatory and impeachment evidence from the Morrison murder prosecutor violated federal law in the circumstances. Lassiter, 28 F.3d at 1150. Citing the Fifth Circuit's decision in Geter v. Fortenberry, 849 F.2d 1550, 1559 (5th Cir.1988), the district court held that in 1987 and 1988 a police officer had a clearly established duty under Brady to not intentionally withhold exculpatory or impeachment evidence from the prosecutor. 65 We agree with the Fifth Circuit that clearly established law in 1987 and 1988 prohibited the police from concealing exculpatory or impeachment evidence. See Geter, 849 F.2d at 1559. 17 Brady and its progeny made clear that an accused's due process rights are violated when the prosecution fails to disclose exculpatory or impeachment evidence to the defense, regardless of whether the prosecutor himself acted in bad faith or even knew of the evidence. See Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. at 153-54, 92 S.Ct. at 766. Our case law clearly established that an accused's due process rights are violated when the police conceal exculpatory or impeachment evidence. Freeman v. State of Georgia, 599 F.2d 65, 69 (5th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1013, 100 S.Ct. 661, 62 L.Ed.2d 641 (1980). 18 We had explained: 66 The police are also part of the prosecution, and the taint on the trial is no less if they, rather than the State's Attorney, were guilty of the nondisclosure ... The duty to disclosure [sic] is that of the state, which ordinarily acts through the prosecuting attorney; but if he too is the victim of police suppression of the material information, the state's failure is not on that account excused. 67 Id. at 69-70 (citations omitted). See also Ross v. Hopper, 716 F.2d 1528, 1534 (11th Cir.1983) (holding that any information obtained by law enforcement officers in course of investigation must be attributed to prosecutor for purposes of Brady violation); United States v. Antone, 603 F.2d 566, 569-70 (5th Cir.1979) (imputing knowledge of state investigators to federal prosecutors in determining whether there was Brady violation). Thus, pre-existing law in this circuit clearly established that withholding Brady material from the prosecutor, and thus preventing its disclosure to the defense, violates an accused's due process rights. 19 68 Our conclusion that Tate, Ikner, and Benson's duties under Brady were clearly established does not end the inquiry. It remains to be determined whether a reasonable officer in Tate, Ikner, and Benson's position would know, when they acted, that the evidence withheld from the prosecutor was material, that is, that withholding the evidence would undermine confidence in the outcome of McMillian's trial. For if a reasonable officer would not know that the exculpatory and impeachment evidence was material, he would not know that what he is doing violates federal law in the circumstances. See Lassiter, 28 F.3d at 1149. 69 The standard of materiality at the time Tate, Ikner, and Benson acted is the same standard applicable today. See Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. at ---- - ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1565-66. Evidence is material and therefore must be disclosed if there is a reasonable probability that, if the evidence is suppressed, the result of the proceeding will be different. Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1565 (quoting United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3383, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985)). A reasonable probability of a different result is shown when the suppression of evidence would undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial. Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1566 (quoting Bagley, 473 U.S. at 678, 105 S.Ct. at 3381). In evaluating materiality, suppressed evidence must be evaluated collectively, not item-by-item. Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1567. 70 The district court held that several pieces of withheld evidence were clearly exculpatory. 20 However, the district court did not ask whether every reasonable official in the position of Tate, Ikner, and Benson would understand that withholding those particular pieces of evidence would undermine confidence in the outcome of McMillian's trial. The court viewed the evidence with the benefit of hindsight, knowing what evidence actually was presented at trial, and agreed with the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals that the evidence withheld was material. But Tate, Ikner, and Benson did not have the benefit of knowing exactly how the totality of the evidence would play out at trial. It is from their perspective that the district court should have analyzed whether the evidence was material, and we remand for the district court to do so. 21