Cite as: 514 U. S. 419 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
suggestion that the police "set up" Kyles, and the defense could have argued that the police accepted the invitation. The prosecutor's notes of his interview with Beanie would have shown that police officers were asking Beanie the whereabouts of the gun all day Sunday, the very day when he was twice at Kyles's apartment and was allegedly seen by Johnny Burns lurking near the stove, where the gun was later found.18 Beanie's same statement, indeed, could have been used to cap an attack on the integrity of the investigation and on the reliability of Detective Dillman, who testified on cross-examination that he did not know if Beanie had been at Kyles's apartment on Sunday. Tr. 93, 101 (Dec. 6, 1984).19
18 The dissent would rule out any suspicion because Beanie was said to have worn a "tank-top" shirt during his visits to the apartment, post, at 471; we suppose that a small handgun could have been carried in a man's trousers, just as a witness for the State claimed the killer had carried it, Tr. 52 (Dec. 6, 1984) (Williams). Similarly, the record photograph of the homemade holster indicates that the jury could have found it to be constructed of insubstantial leather or cloth, duct tape, and string, concealable in a pocket.
19 In evaluating the weight of all these evidentiary items, it bears mention that they would not have functioned as mere isolated bits of good luck for Kyles. Their combined force in attacking the process by which the police gathered evidence and assembled the case would have complemented, and have been complemented by, the testimony actually offered by Kyles's friends and family to show that Beanie had framed Kyles. Exposure to Beanie's own words, even through cross-examination of the police officers, would have made the defense's case more plausible and reduced its vulnerability to credibility attack. Johnny Burns, for example, was subjected to sharp cross-examination after testifying that he had seen Beanie change the license plate on the LTD, that he walked in on Beanie stooping near the stove in Kyles's kitchen, that he had seen Beanie with handguns of various calibers, including a .32, and that he was testifying for the defense even though Beanie was his "best friend." Tr. 260, 262- 263, 279, 280 (Dec. 7, 1984). On each of these points, Burns's testimony would have been consistent with the withheld evidence: that Beanie had spoken of Burns to the police as his "partner," had admitted to changing the LTD's license plate, had attended Sunday dinner at Kyles's apartment, and had a history of violent crime, rendering his use of guns more likely. With this information, the defense could have challenged the prosecution's
449
Page: Index Previous 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007