Cite as: 527 U. S. 263 (1999)
Opinion of Souter, J.
trict Court's summation of evidence against him, ante, at 291, n. 36: Henderson's wallet was found near the body, his clothes were bloody, he presented a woman friend with the victim's watch at a postmortem celebration (which he left driving the victim's car), and he confessed to a friend that he had just killed an unidentified black person. Had this been the totality of the evidence, the jurors could well have had little certainty about who had been in charge. But they could have had no doubt about the leader if they believed Stoltzfus.
Ultimately, I cannot accept the Court's discount of Stoltzfus in the Brady sentencing calculus for the reason I have repeatedly emphasized, the undeniable narrative force of what she said. Against this, it does not matter so much that other witnesses could have placed Strickler at the shopping mall on the afternoon of the murder, ante, at 293-294, or that the Stoltzfus testimony did not directly address the aggravating factors found, ante, at 295. What is important is that her evidence presented a gripping story, see E. Loftus & J. Doyle, Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal 5 (3d ed. 1997) ("[R]esearch redoundingly proves that the story format is a powerful key to juror decision making"). Its message was that Strickler was the madly energetic leader of two morally apathetic accomplices, who were passive but for his direction. One cannot be reasonably confident that not a single juror would have had a different perspective after an impeachment that would have destroyed the credibility of that story. I would accordingly vacate the sentence and remand for reconsideration, and to that extent I respectfully dissent.
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