Opinion ID: 1823099
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Hearings on Application for Post Conviction Relief

Text: In 1992, approximately seven years after Gibson effected West's affidavit and twenty-four years after his conviction, Gibson filed the instant application for post conviction relief and, for the first time, revealed West's June 3, 1985 affidavit. In it, Gibson claimed the District Attorney withheld a supplemental police report containing exculpatory Brady material. The criminal court held three hearings on Gibson's motion for post conviction relief. West's testimony and the supplemental police report were entered into evidence at the hearings held on October 23, 1992 and December 18, 1992. At the third and final hearing held on February 16, 1993, West testified that during their incarceration at Angola Penitentiary, he and Gibson had frequently discussed and eventually concocted a plan to get out of prison. This plan culminated in Gibson's presentation of the affidavit to West for his signature and Gibson's application for post conviction relief. At the hearing, West represented for the first time that a man named George Carter, not Roland Gibson, was the triggerman. West stated he had not previously implicated George Carter because the Police beat him into submission of a statement implicating Gibson. [5] The presiding judge granted Gibson's application for post-conviction relief, finding that the District Attorney withheld the supplemental police report which contained exculpatory Brady material in the form of West's numerous conflicting statements to Police and could have denied Gibson a fair trial. The judge ordered a new trial. The District Attorney, bereft of the testimony of its sole witness, West, entered a nolle prosequi as to Gibson's indictment on March 31, 1993. Thereafter, Gibson was released from prison.