676
Opinion of the Court
peaching material in the State's possession, it is ordinarily incumbent on the State to set the record straight.
I
On April 14, 1980, police found the corpse of 16-year-old Richard Whitehead in Pocket Park, east of Nash, Texas, a town in the vicinity of Texarkana. Id., at 8, 141.1 A preliminary autopsy revealed that Whitehead had been shot three times. Id., at 10. Bowie County Deputy Sheriff Willie Huff, lead investigator of the death, learned from two witnesses that Whitehead had been in the company of petitioner, 21-year-old Delma Banks, Jr., late on the evening of April 11. Id., at 11-15, 144; Banks v. State, 643 S. W. 2d 129, 131 (Tex. Crim. App. 1982) (en banc), cert. denied, 464 U. S. 904 (1983). On April 23, Huff received a call from a confidential informant reporting that "Banks was coming to Dallas to meet an individual and get a weapon." App. 15. That evening, Huff and other officers followed Banks to South Dallas, where Banks visited a residence. Ibid.; Brief for Petitioner 3. Police stopped Banks's vehicle en route from Dallas, found a handgun in the car, and arrested the car's occupants. App. 16. Returning to the Dallas residence Banks had visited, Huff encountered and interviewed Charles Cook and recovered a second gun, a weapon Cook said Banks had left with him several days earlier. Ibid. Tests later identified the second gun as the Whitehead murder weapon. Id., at 17.
In a May 21, 1980, pretrial hearing, Banks's counsel sought information from Huff concerning the confidential informant who told Huff that Banks would be driving to Dallas. Id., at 21. Huff was unresponsive. Ibid. Any information that might reveal the identity of the informant, the prosecu-1 Although a police officer testified Whitehead's body was found on April 14, App. 8, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stated the body was discovered on April 15. Banks v. State, 643 S. W. 2d 129, 131 (1982) (en banc).
Page: Index Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007