Opinion ID: 617145
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prosecution's Suppression of Exculpatory Evidence

Text: Sowell claims that the prosecution failed to disclose material exculpatory evidence, as required by Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). This claim is without merit for the reasons given by the district court. Sowell, 557 F.Supp.2d at 907-09. Sowell argues that prosecutors suppressed the statement of Jerrell Perrin, an eyewitness who lived on the same floor of the apartment building as Sowell and Graham. But Perrin's statement is not material and does not create sufficient doubt as to Sowell's guilt. In her affidavit filed in the post-conviction proceeding, Perrin testified that on the night of the shooting, she saw Sowell standing outside Graham's apartment and heard him ask Pamela Billups to return his money, and that she heard Billups respond by screaming profanities at Sowell. She testified that between twenty and thirty minutes later, she heard what she thought was a car backfiring. When she opened her door, she saw Sowell walking back to his apartment. Perrin testified that she knew Billups was a prostitute and had a reputation for dishonesty, and that Billups was known for stealing money from her customers. As the district court explained: Perrin's affidavit actually contradicts petitioner's trial testimony, and the defense theory of the case, in several key respects. Petitioner testified that he did not argue with Billups about his money, yet Perrin's statement quite clearly states that she heard petitioner and Billups arguing. More importantly, Perrin's affidavit states that she heard the sounds of gunfire twenty to thirty minutes after the argument. This statement directly contradicts petitioner's testimony that the shooting happened far less than five minutes after he left the apartment, and calls into question the defense theory that this offense was committed without sufficient time to form the intent necessary for prior calculation and design. Sowell, 557 F.Supp.2d at 908-09. There is therefore not a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different, Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 280, 119 S.Ct. 1936, 144 L.Ed.2d 286 (1999), and Sowell's Brady claim therefore fails.