Court Opinion

ID: 9499278
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:42:55.197979+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:23.293880
License: Public Domain

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I concur in the court’s opinion regarding the admission of Sergeant Mora’s testimony, the sufficiency of the evidence, and the jury instructions. I also agree that Victor Jose Barraza-Cazares was not entitled to a new trial based on an alleged violation of the government’s obligations under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), to disclose information favorable to the accused that is material to the defense and not otherwise available. If, as Rogelio Rios-Lopez told law enforcement officers, he did not know Barraza-Cazares before the controlled drug transaction, then this fact obviously was known to Barraza-Cazares, and the government had no constitutional duty to disclose it to him. United States v. Zuazo, 243 F.3d 428, 431 (8th Cir.2001); United States v. Wilson, 787 F.2d 375, 389 (8th Cir.1986). That Rios-Lopez made a statement recounting this fact is not material. The hearsay statement was not admissible at trial, and Barraza-Cazares already knew the substance of the information if it was true.
I decline to join the court’s statement at the conclusion of its opinion that the government had “no justification” for failing to disclose information that was either known to the defendant or immaterial, and its suggestion that the government acted improperly. As the court itself explains, the government’s constitutional duty to disclose exculpatory information is limited to information that is unknown to the defendant and material to the defense. Ante, at 333-34; see also Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 437, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995); United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 140 — 46 (2d Cir.2001). There is a difference of opinion about whether ethical rules adopted in various States do or should impose on prosecutors *336a duty to disclose broader than what is required by the Due Process Clause, compare, e.g., In the Matter of Attorney C, 47 P.3d 1167, 1170-71 (Colo.2002) (reading Colorado Rule of Professional Conduct 3.8(d) consistent with Brady and “declining] to impose inconsistent obligations upon prosecutors attempting to comply with both procedural rules and rules of professional conduct”) with Kyles, 514 U.S. at 437, 115 S.Ct. 1555 (stating that standards recommended by American Bar Association call for more disclosures than required by the Due Process Clause), but the court does not invoke such rules or purport to apply the ethical standards of any State to support its criticism of the prosecution in this case. Cf. NE Gen. R. 1.7(b) (declining specifically to adopt particular codes of professional responsibility or codes of ethics promulgated by others to govern practice in the United States District Court).
Under the constitutional standard discussed by the court, it is analytically inconsistent to say that the government complied with its obligations under Brady, and breached no constitutional duty to disclose, but at the same time to suggest that the prosecution had no justification for failing to disclose and did not act properly. I would refrain from including additional commentary that is not supported by the constitutional authorities on which the court x-elies.