Opinion ID: 1133717
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Giglio Claims

Text: In Giglio, 405 U.S. at 153-54, 92 S.Ct. 763, the United States Supreme Court extended Brady to claims where a key state witness gives false testimony that was material to the trial. To establish a Giglio claim, it must be shown that (1) the testimony given was false; (2) the prosecutor knew the testimony was false; and (3) the statement was material. Suggs v. State, 923 So.2d 419, 426 (Fla.2005). The third element of Giglio differs from the prejudice or materiality prong of Brady in that once a defendant has established that the prosecutor knowingly presented false testimony at trial, the State bears the burden to show that the false evidence was not material. Guzman, 868 So.2d at 507. This requires the State to prove that the presentation of false testimony was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, id. at 506, or in other words, that there is no reasonable possibility that the error contributed to the conviction. State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129, 1138 (Fla.1986), cited in Guzman v. State, No. SC04-2016, 941 So.2d 1045, 1050 (Fla. Jun.29, 2006). When reviewing these claims on appeal, we apply a mixed standard of review, deferring to the trial court's findings of fact but determining de novo whether the facts are sufficient to establish the elements required in each claim. Suggs, 923 So.2d at 426. Ponticelli asserts that the State violated Giglio by presenting or failing to correct false or misleading testimony regarding (1) whether Freeman received any benefit from testifying in Ponticelli's case; (2) whether Keesee saw Ponticelli use cocaine in the twenty-four hours prior to the murders; and (3) the date the West Virginia boys first met Ponticelli. As explained below, we deny each of these claims.
Ponticelli first alleges that the State violated Giglio by allowing Freeman to testify that he did not expect to receive any benefit or special treatment in regard to his testimony, despite the fact that the prosecutor's note from her telephone conversation with Freeman's defense counsel stated otherwise. This claim is without merit. As we discussed earlier in regard to Ponticelli's Brady claim, even if we accept Ponticelli's allegation that the prosecutor's note indicates that Freeman was not honest when he testified that he did not expect to receive a benefit from cooperating in Ponticelli's case, we find no prejudice. While we recognize that the materiality prong in Giglio is more defense friendly than that of Brady, we find the State has met its burden of showing that this portion of Freeman's testimony, even if not entirely true, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Guzman, 868 So.2d at 506. As explained above, Freeman was significantly impeached on his capacity for truthfulness and his incentive for testifying against Ponticelli. Therefore, informing the jury that Freeman might be testifying falsely because of his hope for an unguaranteed, unspecified award would not have rendered him sufficiently less credible in the jury's eyes to establish a reasonable possibility that this contributed to the verdict. Therefore, we deny this claim. Cf. Marshall, 854 So.2d at 1252 (denying Giglio claim based on the State's alleged promise to a witness because even assuming that the alleged promise was made, defense counsel impeached the witness regarding the subject of the promise, and the witness was not the sole witness to testify in regard to the events surrounding the murder).
Ponticelli's second Giglio claim alleges that the State knowingly permitted Timothy Keesee to testify at trial that he did not see Ponticelli use drugs on the night of the homicides. This claim is also without merit. At trial, Keesee testified that when he and his brother arrived at the Grandinettis' trailer on the night of the homicides, he saw Ponticelli there discussing money Ponticelli owed the Grandinettis for prior cocaine purchases. Keesee testified that he saw cocaine sitting on the table in the trailer, but he did not see anyone using it. [15] At the evidentiary hearing, Keesee testified that this testimony was false, that he had seen Ponticelli use cocaine at the Grandinettis' trailer, and he certainly told the state investigator this, if not the prosecutor as well. [16] Keesee attributed his false testimony to the facts that (1) he was under the influence of cocaine at the time of his deposition and trial, [17] and (2) he wanted to get out of the spotlight in regard to his own drug use and criminal charges. [18] In addition to the prosecutor's interview notes and state investigator's report, which are described earlier in regard to Ponticelli's Brady claim, Ponticelli also alleges that a note the prosecutor jotted on Keesee's deposition testimony supports his Giglio claim. Next to Keesee's statement that he [d]idn't see them do cocaine. Didn't tell anyone they did cocaine, the prosecutor had underlined didn't tell anyone and wrote in the margin Told BM. [19] Taped. At the evidentiary hearing, the prosecutor testified that she could not determine what the note in the margin meant. She testified: I don't know if [the note] meant that I thought it was inconsistent with something [the state investigator] had, a tape [the state investigator] had made, or that if it was something inconsistent with something [the state investigator] had taped. . . . . I'm not sure if it was something that was a big dispute between [defense counsel] and I wanted to make a note that I thought that [Keesee] had said the same things somewhere else, he told [the state investigator] the same thing and it was a tape, or, like you're saying, that it's inconsistent with something that he had told [the state investigator] that was taped. So, I don't know. . . . . Oftentimes I'll put a question mark next to it too [to indicate that a witness may have made an inconsistent statement] and there's not a question mark. Ponticelli's defense counsel disagreed with the prosecutor's interpretation of this note. He testified that he believed this note indicated that the prosecutor acknowledged that Keesee told the state investigator that Keesee saw Ponticelli use cocaine and that the prosecutor wanted to know if Keesee's statement was in a form that was available to the defense. The trial court denied this claim because it found no evidence that the State either knowingly presented, or allowed to be presented, perjured testimony at trial. It recognized that Keesee testified adamantly at deposition and at trial that he did not see Ponticelli use cocaine on the day of the crimes, and that [r]eferences to drug use found in [the state investigator's] and [the] Prosecutor['s] notes are vague . . . It is understandable that [the prosecutor] and [the state investigator] could have overlooked vague statements in their notes when faced with this testimony. These findings are supported by competent, substantial evidence. The prosecutor's notation on Keesee's deposition testimony does not clearly indicate that the prosecutor knew Keesee was testifying falsely. At the evidentiary hearing, defense counsel and the prosecutor gave conflicting interpretations of this evidence. We defer to the trial court's findings of fact in regard to the resolution of conflicting testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing. See Sochor v. State, 883 So.2d 766, 785 (Fla.2004) (recognizing that the trial court must resolve conflicting testimony presented at the evidentiary hearing by assigning weight to each witness's testimony). Therefore, we affirm the trial court's denial of this claim.
Ponticelli's third and final Giglio claim alleges that the State violated Giglio by allowing Brian Burgess and Edward Brown to testify falsely at trial about the date they first met Ponticelli and whether they had ever seen Ponticelli use cocaine. [20] Burgess testified that his trial testimony was not completely accurate regarding the date he first met Ponticelli. At trial, Burgess testified that he first met Ponticelli around six or seven o'clock on the night the homicides occurred when Ponticelli appeared at Dotson's home and announced his intent to kill the Grandinettis. [21] At the evidentiary hearing, Burgess testified that he actually met Ponticelli at a cocaine party at Dotson's house that began Thursday night and continued into the early morning hours on Friday, the day the homicides occurred. Burgess testified that he, Brown, Ponticelli, and Turner left the party to purchase an eight-ball of cocaine from the Grandinettis' trailer, and when they returned, they all smoked some of it. Brown testified to very similar facts. He also acknowledged that, contrary to his trial testimony, the first time Ponticelli appeared at Dotson's was not after six or seven on Friday evening, but sometime Thursday night or early Friday morning at a party at Dotson's house. During this time, Brown, Burgess, Turner, and Ponticelli drove to the Grandinettis' trailer to purchase cocaine. Brown testified at the evidentiary hearing that on the way back from the trailer, they stopped to purchase an orange juice container, which either Turner or Ponticelli fashioned into a pipe to cook the cocaine in the car. This contradicted Brown's trial testimony in which he stated that he had never used cocaine with Ponticelli. Neither Brown nor Burgess testified that the State told him not to testify regarding Ponticelli's cocaine use, and Burgess testified that the rest of his trial testimony was truthful. The trial court denied this claim because it found no evidence that the State knew these witnesses testified falsely. In its November 1, 2002, order, the trial court stated: This Court does not find that the Prosecution either knowingly presented, or allowed to be presented, perjured testimony at trial. . . . Keesee, Brown and Burgess were adamant at deposition and at trial that they did not use drugs with the Defendant. Brown and Burgess were adamant at deposition and at trial that they did not meet Defendant until the evening of November 27, 1987, and that they did not use drugs with Defendant. This finding is supported by competent, substantial evidence. As explained above, there was no evidence presented at the evidentiary hearing that the State knew that Burgess or Brown testified falsely; in fact, Burgess and Brown testified at the evidentiary hearing that they never told the State they saw Ponticelli use cocaine the night before the crimes because they did not know this was an issue in Ponticelli's case. Furthermore, each of the West Virginia boys presented consistent testimony at trial. Ponticelli has not established the second prong of Giglio in respect to this claim. See Rodriguez v. State, 919 So.2d 1252, 1269-70 (Fla.2005) (finding summary denial of Giglio claim appropriate, in part, because the witness's testimony was consistent with other witnesses who testified at trial). For the reasons explained above, we deny each of Ponticelli's Brady and Giglio claims.