Cite as: 520 U. S. 397 (1997)
Souter, J., dissenting
was simply lying under oath about his limited perusal. The Court of Appeals noted this possibility, see 67 F. 3d 1174, 1184 (CA5 1995), which is more likely than any other reading of the evidence. Law enforcement officers, after all, are not characteristically so devoid of curiosity as to lose interest part way through the criminal record of a subject of personal investigation.
If, as is likely, the jurors did disbelieve the sheriff and concluded he had read the whole record, they certainly could have eliminated any possibility that the sheriff's decision to
"Q. Did you make any inquiries after you got that information to determine exactly what the disposition of those charges were? "A. No, I didn't. "Q. Did you not make any attempt to find out the status of Mr. Burns' criminal record at that time? "A. As far as him having a criminal record, I don't believe he had a criminal record. It was just all driving and—most of it was, misdemeanors. "Q. Well, did you make any attempts to determine whether or not Mr. Burns was on probation at the time you placed him out there? "A. I didn't know he was on probation, no. "Q. Did you make any effort to find out? "A. I didn't have no idea he was on probation, no. "Q. Well, you saw on his rap sheet where he had been charged with [Driving Under the Influence], didn't you? "A. I had heard about that. I don't remember whether I had seen it on the rap sheet or not. "Q. So you'd heard about it?
. . . . . "A. I don't know remember whether I seen it on the rap sheet or heard about it. "Q. All right. Well, whichever way you, it came to your attention, you didn't check to find out with the proper authorities as to what the disposition of that charge was, did you?
. . . . . "A. I don't really know. I can't say. "Q. Did you check to see if Mr. Burns had an arrest warrant out for him? "A. We—I run him through [the National Crime Information Center] and there wasn't—didn't show no warrant, no." 9 Record 672-675.
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