686
Opinion of the Court
Defense counsel questioned the prosecutor about the September 1980 transcript, calling attention to discrepancies between the transcript and Cook's statements at trial. Id., at 65-68. In a posthearing brief and again in proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, Banks emphasized the suppression of the September 1980 transcript, noting the prosecution's obligation to disclose material, exculpatory evidence, and the assurance in this case that Banks would receive "all [the] discovery to which [Banks was] entitled." App. 360-361, and n. 1, 378-379 (internal quotation marks omitted); supra, at 677.
In a May 11, 2000, report and recommendation, the Magistrate Judge recommended a writ of habeas corpus with respect to Banks's death sentence, but not his conviction. App. to Pet. for Cert. C54. "[T]he State's failure to disclose Farr's informant status, coupled with trial counsel's dismal performance during the punishment phase," the Magistrate Judge concluded, "undermined the reliability of the jury's verdict regarding punishment." Id., at C44. Finding no convincing evidence of a deal between the State and Cook, however, she recommended that the guilt-phase verdict remain undisturbed. Id., at C46.
Banks moved to alter or amend the Magistrate Judge's report on the ground that it left unresolved a fully aired question, i. e., whether Banks's rights were violated by the State's failure to disclose to the defense the prosecution's eve-of-trial interrogation of Cook. App. 398. That interrogation, Banks observed, could not be reconciled with Cook's insistence at trial that he had talked to no one about his testimony. Id., at 400, n. 17; see supra, at 677.
The District Court adopted the Magistrate Judge's report and denied Banks's motion to amend the report. App. to Pet. for Cert. B6; App. 421-424. Concerning the Cook Brady transcript-suppression claim, the District Court recognized that Banks had filed his federal petition in 1996, three years before he became aware of the September 1980
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