424
Opinion of the Court
record. Despite this list and the eyewitness descriptions, the police had no lead to the gunman until the Saturday evening after the shooting.
At 5:30 p.m., on September 22, a man identifying himself as James Joseph called the police and reported that on the day of the murder he had bought a red Thunderbird from a friend named Curtis, whom he later identified as petitioner, Curtis Kyles. He said that he had subsequently read about Dye's murder in the newspapers and feared that the car he purchased was the victim's. He agreed to meet with the police.
A few hours later, the informant met New Orleans Detective John Miller, who was wired with a hidden body microphone, through which the ensuing conversation was recorded. See App. 221-257 (transcript). The informant now said his name was Joseph Banks and that he was called Beanie. His actual name was Joseph Wallace.3
His story, as well as his name, had changed since his earlier call. In place of his original account of buying a Thunderbird from Kyles on Thursday, Beanie told Miller that he had not seen Kyles at all on Thursday, id., at 249- 250, and had bought a red LTD the previous day, Friday, id., at 221-222, 225. Beanie led Miller to the parking lot of a nearby bar, where he had left the red LTD, later identified as Dye's.
Beanie told Miller that he lived with Kyles's brother-in-law (later identified as Johnny Burns),4 whom Beanie repeatedly called his "partner." Id., at 221. Beanie described Kyles as slim, about 6-feet tall, 24 or 25 years old, with a "bush" hairstyle. Id., at 226, 252. When asked if Kyles ever wore
3 Because the informant had so many aliases, we will follow the convention of the court below and refer to him throughout this opinion as Beanie.
4 Johnny Burns is the brother of a woman known as Pinky Burns. A number of trial witnesses referred to the relationship between Kyles and Pinky Burns as a common-law marriage (Louisiana's civil law notwithstanding). Kyles is the father of several of Pinky Burns's children.
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