Cite as: 540 U. S. 668 (2004)
Opinion of the Court
dence" concerning "two of the [S]tate's essential witnesses, Charles Cook and Robert Farr," id., at 340, 345 (internal quotation marks omitted). In anticipation of the hearing, the Magistrate Judge ordered disclosure of the Bowie County District Attorney's files. Brief for Petitioner 37-38; Tr. of June 7-8, 1999, Federal Evidentiary Hearing (ED Tex.), p. 30 (hereinafter Federal Evidentiary Hearing).
One item lodged in the District Attorney's files, turned over to Banks pursuant to the Magistrate Judge's disclosure order, was a 74-page transcript of a Cook interrogation. App. to Pet. for Cert. A10. The interrogation, conducted by Bowie County law enforcement officials and prosecutors, occurred in September 1980, shortly before the Banks trial. Ibid. The transcript revealed that the State's representatives had closely rehearsed Cook's testimony. In particular, the officials told Cook how to reconcile his testimony with affidavits to which he had earlier subscribed recounting Banks's visits to Dallas. See, e. g., Joint Lodging Material 24 ("Your [April 1980] statement is obviously screwed up."); id., at 26 ("[T]he way this statement should read is that . . . ."); id., at 32 ("[L]et me tell you how this is going to work."); id., at 36 ("That's not in your [earlier] statement."). Although the transcript did not bear on Banks's claim that the prosecution had a deal with Cook, it provided compelling evidence that Cook's testimony had been tutored by Banks's prosecutors. Without objection at the hearing, the Magistrate Judge admitted the September 1980 transcript into evidence. Brief for Petitioner 39; Federal Evidentiary Hearing 75-76.
Testifying at the evidentiary hearing, Deputy Sheriff Huff acknowledged, for the first time, that Farr was an informant and that he had been paid $200 for his involvement in the case. App. to Pet. for Cert. C43. As to Cook, a Banks trial prosecutor testified, in line with the State's consistent position, that no deal had been offered to gain Cook's trial testimony. Id., at C45; Federal Evidentiary Hearing 52-53.
685
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