Court Opinion

ID: 9468318
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:11:57.656274+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:48.994375
License: Public Domain

GIBBONS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join in the opinion of the court, but write separately to emphasize the narrow scope of the holding on disclosure of the identity of eyewitnesses to a crime. When, as here, eyewitness identification is the crucial element of the government’s case against a defendant, effective assistance of counsel obviously requires that all avenues be explored which might produce evidence impeaching the reliability of the eyewitness upon whom the government intends to rely. Leaving the decision as to what eyewitnesses will be made available in the hands of low level government investigative agents would enormously magnify the inherent unreliability of identification testimony. However, there is a legitimate governmental interest in protecting from risk of harm those witnesses whose testimony may contribute little or nothing to an effective defense. Our holding, capsulized in para*201graph 20 of the opinion of the court, is that before the informant privilege is set aside a defendant must make a showing that the information he seeks is not readily available from other sources. We have imposed the same requirement with respect to an analogous qualified privilege of media news sources. United States v. Cuthbertson, 651 F.2d 189 (3d Cir. 1981). With the foregoing understanding of its holding on the qualified privilege not to disclose the identity of an informant, I join in the opinion of the court.