Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Supreme Court Reverses Conviction in Quintuple Murder Case Due To Prosecutorial Misconduct

The New York Times reported today that The Supreme Court reversed the conviction of New Orleans man who had been found guilty of murdering five people. The Court held that prosecutors should have released key evidence to the defense under Brady v. Maryland, another Supreme Court decision from 1963, where prosecutors are required "to provide favorable evidence to the defense."

The killings occurred in 1995 when a group of men ambushed a home in order to steal drugs and money. The occupants of the home were forced to lie down and shot to death. Juan Smith was the only person tried in the killings. The prosecution based its case on Larry Boatner, the lone survivor, who presented eyewitness testimony during the trial. Boatner testified "I'll never forget him" as he pointed to Smith. There was no DNA evidence, fingerprints, weapons, or other physical evidence presented at trial to link Smith to the killings.

Later, reports emerged that the prosecution withheld important evidence from the defense where Boatner had stated in interviews soon after the murders that he could not describe the group of men who entered the home, that he had not seen their faces, and would not be able to identify them. Smith's attorney in the Supreme Court case said "the withheld statements from Mr. Boatner 'constitute the epitome of impeachment evidence.'"

The Court had to determine "only whether the failure [to release the evidence] mattered - that is, in the words of a 2009 decision, whether 'there is a reasonable probability that. had the evidence been disclosed, the result of the proceeding would have been different.'"

The Supreme Court voted in an 8-1 decision that the withheld statements were "plainly material" to the outcome of the case.

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