Opinion ID: 1263890
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Denial of Olofson's Discovery Requests

Text: Prior to trial and pursuant to Brady, Olofson made a motion to compel the discovery of evidence he had requested but that the government had not produced. The defendant sought: 1) documentation of the procedures used by the ATF in testing the AR-15; 2) correspondence between the ATF and the manufacturer of the defendant's AR-15 concerning the use of M-16 parts in early AR-15 rifles; 3) information about changes in the ATF's registry of AR-15 rifles with M-16 components; and 4) documents pertaining to the ATF's refusal to register AR-15 rifles with M-16 parts. The district court denied the defendant's motion on the first day of trial after concluding that the information sought was not exculpatory. On appeal, Olofson claims that the district court committed prejudicial error in denying his Brady motion and that he therefore is entitled to a new trial. We review a district court's decision that evidence need not be produced under Brady for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Dabney, 498 F.3d 455, 459 (7th Cir.2007). Under Brady, the government is constrained to disclose evidence that is favorable to a defendant and material to either his guilt or punishment. United States v. Fallon, 348 F.3d 248, 251 (7th Cir.2003). Favorable evidence includes both impeachment and exculpatory evidence. United States v. Baker, 453 F.3d 419, 422 (7th Cir.2006). Even when the government has not disclosed such evidence, strictly speaking, there is never a real ` Brady violation' unless the nondisclosure was so serious that there is a reasonable probability that the suppressed evidence would have produced a different verdict. Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281, 119 S.Ct. 1936, 144 L.Ed.2d 286 (1999). We have described this inquiry as `materiality,' and stated that the demonstration of materiality is the key to obtaining a new trial where a defendant alleges a Brady violation. Baker, 453 F.3d at 422. Thus there are three parts to a Brady violation: 1) the disputed evidence must be favorable to the defendant, either because it is exculpatory or impeaching; 2) that evidence must have been suppressed by the government, either willfully or inadvertently; and 3) prejudice must have occurred. Strickler, 527 U.S. at 281-82, 119 S.Ct. 1936. Regarding the first non-disclosed itemthe ATF's internal procedures for test-firing AR-15 riflesOlofson says he wanted that information because [f]ailure to follow those procedures by changing the type of ammunition in the second test could demonstrate that the tests had been manipulated to arrive at a reversal of the results of the first test. We do not see how that information could have exculpated Olofson; section 5845(b) does not require compliance with ATF test-fire procedures in order for a weapon to qualify as a machinegun, nor must the weapon fire any particular grade of ammunition or in the prohibited fashion during the first test-fire. Assuming that such evidence might have had some impeachment value, there was no Brady violation because the government's expert was otherwise sufficiently impeached. United States v. Ervin, 540 F.3d 623, 632 (7th Cir.2008) ( Brady does not extend to `evidence that impeaches an already thoroughly impeached witness.' (quoting United States v. Kozinski, 16 F.3d 795, 819 (7th Cir.1994))). Specifically, Olofson questioned the government's expert at length about ATF test-fire procedures and the types of ammunition used in the tests. In addition, the government's expert admitted that the gun fired automatically more than one round with a single function of the trigger without manual reloading in the second test with civiliangrade rounds, but jammed in the first test with military-grade rounds. Even if the second test was inconsistent with ATF procedures, that fact would not undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial. Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 434, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant's motion to compel the production of that evidence. With respect to his request for the ATF's correspondence with the manufacturer of his AR-15 concerning the use of M-16 parts in early AR-15 rifles, the defendant contends that evidence was exculpatory because it was relevant to his knowledge of whether or not his AR-15 was a machinegun. The district court denied Olofson's request on the first day of trial. At the sentencing hearing, the court revisited the issue; the court inspected a document in camera, stated that it was not exculpatory, and placed it under seal. We subsequently ordered that document to be unsealed. That evidence is a 1983 letter from the ATF to the manufacturer of the AR-15 in which the ATF advised the company that the installation of certain M-16 parts in AR-15 receivers may permit the weapon to fire automatically even though an automatic sear is not present. We agree with the district court that the document is not exculpatory: it has no bearing on Olofson's knowledge of whether his AR-15 was a machinegun. [8] The letter has no impeachment value either. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to order the production of that evidence. Lastly, Olofson argues that any documents relating to the ATF's change in registry or refusal to register AR-15 rifles with M-16 components were exculpatory because they could have been used to refute the government expert's testimony that the M-16 parts in Olofson's AR-15 made it a machinegun. But the government's expert did not testify that the AR-15 was a machinegun merely because it had M-16 parts; rather, the expert stated that the AR-15 fired the way it did due in part to the M-16 components. Regardless, like the district court, we do not see how the ATF's opinions or positions regarding the presence of M-16 parts in AR-15 rifles are the least bit germane to Olofson's conviction for knowingly transferring a machinegun. The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Olofson's motion to compel the government to produce that evidence.