Court Opinion

ID: 9464043
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 23:23:47.582627+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:38:25.831996
License: Public Domain

EDWARDS, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
Wagster was convicted on a charge of second degree murder for the shooting death in a bar of one Roy Haag. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after a state court trial in 1970. After exhausting state remedies on a claim that he had been unconstitutionally deprived of exculpatory evidence in the possession of the Prosecuting Attorney, Wagster filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus. After hearing, Judge Duncan, in a careful opinion, granted his *742habeas corpus petition. Judge Duncan said:
By placing both the petitioner and the defendant at the front of the bar when the shots were fired, Barbara Fagg’s testimony severely undercut petitioner’s version of the incident. His claim of self-defense may in fact have been illusory on this record, in view of the fact that Haag’s knife was found in his pocket after his death. But his claim of adequate provocation found varying degrees of support in the testimony of Phyllis Crank, Felix Wagers, and Anthony Wag-ster, if the jury believed the shooting to have occurred at the rear of the bar. The only persons of record who could testify as to where the shooting occurred were petitioner, Barbara Fagg and Pauline Williams. Petitioner’s testimony was subject to impeachment because of his interest in the outcome of the litigation. The suppressed evidence, then, was the testimony of one of only two disinterested eyewitnesses to the location of the decedent and petitioner immediately after the shooting. Given the defense posture — an admission of the shooting and a claim of justification or excuse — the Court cannot say that Williams’ testimony, contradicting that of Fagg, was immaterial. On the contrary, the Court holds that her testimony concerning the location in the bar of the actors in this drama was highly material to and probative of whether Wagster’s act was second degree murder, or a lesser-included offense. It is simply impossible to discern on this record whether the jury discredited the “barroom brawl” evidence of petitioner, Crank, Wagers, and Anthony Wagster, when the only impartial witness testifying concerning where the shots were fired insisted that the incident occurred in the front of the room.
Judge Duncan relied upon Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976). In the latter case the Supreme Court said, “if the omitted evidence creates a reasonable doubt that did not otherwise exist, constitutional error has been committed.” Analysis of the Pauline Williams statement does indicate substantial contradiction of the principal witness against Wagster, one Barbara Fagg. The net of Fagg’s testimony would tend to convince the jury that Wagster pursued Haag toward the front of the bar and shot him at close range, whereas Pauline Williams’ testimony would tend to indicate that the shooting occurred at Wagster’s table, with Haag doing the approaching. At a minimum this would have a significant impact on the jury on the question of whether this was second degree murder or manslaughter. The defense should have been made aware of this evidence.
I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.