696
Opinion of the Court
misstep may have occurred." 527 U. S., at 286-287. The "cause" inquiry, we have also observed, turns on events or circumstances "external to the defense." Amadeo v. Zant, 486 U. S. 214, 222 (1988) (quoting Murray v. Carrier, 477 U. S. 478, 488 (1986)).
The State here nevertheless urges, in effect, that "the
prosecution can lie and conceal and the prisoner still has the burden to . . . discover the evidence," Tr. of Oral Arg. 35, so long as the "potential existence" of a prosecutorial misconduct claim might have been detected, id., at 36. A rule thus declaring "prosecutor may hide, defendant must seek," is not tenable in a system constitutionally bound to accord defendants due process. "Ordinarily, we presume that public officials have properly discharged their official duties." Bracy v. Gramley, 520 U. S. 899, 909 (1997) (quoting United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc., 272 U. S. 1, 14-15 (1926) (internal quotation marks omitted)). We have several times underscored the "special role played by the American prosecutor in the search for truth in criminal trials." Strickler, 527 U. S., at 281; accord Kyles, 514 U. S., at 439-440; United States v. Bagley, 473 U. S. 667, 675, n. 6 (1985); Berger, 295 U. S., at 88. See also Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438, 484 (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting). Courts, litigants, and juries properly anticipate that "obligations [to refrain from improper methods to secure a conviction] . . . plainly rest[ing] upon the prosecuting attorney, will be faithfully observed." Berger, 295 U. S., at 88. Prosecutors' dishonest conduct or unwarranted concealment should attract no judicial approbation. See Kyles, 514 U. S., at 440 ("The prudence of the careful prosecutor should not . . . be discouraged.").
The State's second argument is a variant of the first. Specifically, the State argues, and the Court of Appeals accepted, that Banks cannot show cause because in the 1992 state-court postconviction proceedings, he failed to move for investigative assistance enabling him to inquire into Farr's
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