Opinion ID: 772156
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiently undermined

Text: 32 The State argues that because the district court stated that it could not determine that Haws' notes would have sufficiently undermined the credibility of Dr. Brady or jurisdiction in this case, the court must have erred when it went on to find the notes to be material under Brady. 33 We do not find the State's argument to be persuasive. An earlier portion of the district court's opinion contains a comprehensive and accurate statement of the standard of review for Brady claims, including determinations of materiality. In addition, the court explicitly found that there is a reasonable probability that had Notes I and III been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different, and the suppression of the notes undermines confidence in the outcome of this trial, thereby applying the correct standard for materiality. 34 While the court did not explain what it meant by sufficiently undermined, it immediately distinguished that issue from the issue of materiality; the court therefore apparently did not intend that the word sufficiently be understood to mean sufficiently to be material. Thus, the court presumably meant that Paradis did not conclusively prove, or prove by a preponderance of the evidence, that he would have been acquitted if he had access to the notes prior to trial. Thus, the court could not definitively determine that the notes would have undermined jurisdiction or Dr. Brady's testimony sufficiently to guarantee acquittal. The State's interpretation of the passage, in contrast, renders the passage patently logically inconsistent, and the State has provided no reason why the passage should be so interpreted. 35 In sum, the State has not shown that the district court's statement that it could not definitively determine that jurisdiction and Dr. Brady's testimony would have been sufficiently undermined conflicts with the court's finding that the notes were material under Brady.