Sufficiency of Evidence – Testimony

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Paysung Long v. Randy Pfister, Warden, Stateville Correctional Center

Case No.: 13-3327

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and BAUER, EASTERBROOK, KANNE, ROVNER, WILLIAMS, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence – Testimony

In evaluating and rejecting the possibility of harmless error, we consider the trial record as a whole. Napue, 360 U.S. at 272; see also Giglio, 405 U.S. at 154 (reversing where perjured testimony was key to prosecution’s case); Long, 809 F.3d at 311. We should not close our eyes to other instances of prosecutorial overreach, including two outrages from the rebuttal closing argument, when the defense could not respond. Napue addresses not what the defense knows but the integrity of the evidence before the jury. Long contends that the state courts rendered decisions “contrary to” Napue and similar decisions.

Long presents other contentions that the panel resolved against him. 809 F.3d at 313–16 (quotation from Gone with the Wind; prosecutor’s anecdote; prosecutor’s reference to a letter not in evidence; ineffective assistance of trial counsel). We agree with the panel’s resolution of those issues and reinstate that portion of its opinion without reproducing the discussion here. In short, Long was not convicted in a fair trial. We should order that he receive a new trial.\

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.