422
Opinion of the Court
a reasonable probability that its disclosure would have produced a different result, Kyles is entitled to a new trial.
I
Following the mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict, Kyles's subsequent conviction and sentence of death were affirmed on direct appeal. State v. Kyles, 513 So. 2d 265 (La. 1987), cert. denied, 486 U. S. 1027 (1988). On state collateral review, the trial court denied relief, but the Supreme Court of Louisiana remanded for an evidentiary hearing on Kyles's claims of newly discovered evidence. During this state-court proceeding, the defense was first able to present certain evidence, favorable to Kyles, that the State had failed to disclose before or during trial. The state trial court nevertheless denied relief, and the State Supreme Court denied Kyles's application for discretionary review. State ex rel. Kyles v. Butler, 566 So. 2d 386 (La. 1990).
Kyles then filed a petition for habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, which denied the petition. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed by a divided vote. 5 F. 3d 806 (1993). As we explain, infra, at 440-441, there is reason to question whether the Court of Appeals evaluated the significance of undisclosed evidence under the correct standard. Because "[o]ur duty to search for constitutional error with painstaking care is never more exacting than it is in a capital case," Burger v. Kemp, 483 U. S. 776, 785 (1987),1 we granted certiorari, 511 U. S. 1051 (1994), and now reverse.
1 The dissent suggests that Burger is not authority for error correction in capital cases, at least when two previous reviewing courts have found no error. Post, at 457. We explain, infra, at 440-441, that this is not a case of simple error correction. As for the significance of prior review, Burger cautions that this Court should not "substitute speculation" for the "considered opinions" of two lower courts. 483 U. S., at 785. No one could disagree that "speculative" claims do not carry much weight against careful evidentiary review by two prior courts. There is nothing speculative, however, about Kyles's Brady claim.
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