Opinion ID: 2061269
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Withholding of Evidence

Text: Sutherlin argues that the prosecutor improperly withheld evidence of Miller's criminal history and the police reports from the night of the shooting. More particularly, he asserts that his attorney requested that the state provide Sutherlin with a copy of Miller's criminal record and the state improperly withheld this information. Apparently Sutherlin wanted to use Miller's criminal history to support trial testimony that Miller had cocaine in his bloodstream when he died and that he had acted aggressively toward Sutherlin and Sutherlin's brother in the past. In response to Sutherlin's request, the state contended that Miller's criminal history was not relevant and that the state would only provide the information under court order. Sutherlin's claim lacks merit. Sutherlin's attorney knew that Miller had a criminal record at the time of trial. The police reports were attached to the complaint against Sutherlin, to which he and his attorney had access. Moreover, nothing in the record shows that Sutherlin's attorney pursued this issue. Sutherlin also claims that the state withheld police reports that show that the police failed to include information about an officer who beat him after his arrest. After the police removed Sutherlin from the trunk of the Cadillac, an officer slapped him repeatedly in the head. A second officer came to Sutherlin's aid and stopped the first officer from beating him. An account of this beating was not included in the arrest reports, but the police reports were attached to the original complaint, and Sutherlin's attorney did have access to them. Moreover, two police officers did testify at trial that Sutherlin was assaulted by a fellow officer after his arrest, and one of the officers admitted that this incident was not included in his report. This issue lacks merit, and Sutherlin could have raised this issue on direct appeal.