It is not for the prosecutor to decide not to disclose information that is on its face exculpatory based on an assessment of how that evidence might be explained away or discredited at trial, or ultimately rejected by the fact finder.

To demonstrate success on the third prong, that the error affected his substantial rights, appellant has to "show a `reasonable probability'"that, but for the trial court's error, appellant would not have been sentenced to LWOP.

—it should by now be clear that in making a judgment about whether to disclose potentially exculpatory information, the guiding principle must be that the critical task of evaluating the usefulness and exculpatory value of the information is a matter primarily for defense counsel, who has a different perspective and interest from that of the police or prosecutor.

—and "where disclosure was made but made late, the defendant must show a reasonable probability that an earlier disclosure would have changed the trial's result and not just that the evidence was material

—the defendant, Thomas Zanders, and the victim, Allen Lancaster, were rival drug dealers and had a violent history: Lancaster had robbed Zanders at gunpoint in the past, and on another occasion they had a fight where

Consequently, without resolving the issue of the proper standard of review, we latterly have "avoided applying the lesser `reasonableness' standard [] where we have been able to conclude instead that even under de novo review, no material violation occurred

We consider "not what effect the constitutional error might generally be expected to have upon a reasonable [factfinder], but rather what effect it had upon the guilty verdict in the case at hand."

—finding no Brady violation in late disclosure of witness's exculpatory statement to police where the statement was uncorroborated and the witness "completely recanted" it

—a post-trial standard used by reviewing courts to determine whether the suppression of favorable evidence constitutes a Brady violation

[BOOK] When innocence is not enough: hidden evidence and the failed promise of the …