Criminal Procedure — exculpatory evidence

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — exculpatory evidence

Even though the government failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defendant, he received a fair trial, where he discovered the evidence and the jury heard it.

“In this case, Mota cannot demonstrate that the suppression of the evidence resulted in the denial of a fair trial. First, it is important to note that Mota learned of Ponce’s conversation with Agent Aponte at the start of his trial. Accordingly, Mota and his counsel were aware of this information during the trial and were able to present this evidence to the jury—and they did so. During the defense’s case, Mota’s counsel called Ponce as a witness and elicited from Ponce his testimony claiming Mota’s innocence and Teflon’s involvement in the drug deal; Ponce also testified that he had told Agent Aponte this exculpatory information during an earlier interview which Agent Aponte had failed to record and report. Furthermore, Mota’s counsel was able to cross-examine Agent Aponte on this issue. Because the defense was able to present all of this evidence to the jury for its consideration, we cannot say that the prosecution’s failure to turn over the evidence to the defense at an earlier time created a reasonable probability that the trial proceedings would have been different. See Banks, 546 F.3d at 510. And under the lower standard for plain error review, there is even less reason for us to conclude that the error was obvious and created a substantial risk of convicting an innocent person. See Daniel, 576 F.3d at 774.”

Affirmed.

10-1486 U.S. v. Mota

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Simon, J., Manion, J.