Cite as: 540 U. S. 668 (2004)
Opinion of the Court
to convict."); accord Strickler, 527 U. S., at 290. In short, Banks must show a "reasonable probability of a different result." Kyles, 514 U. S., at 434 (internal quotation marks omitted) (citing Bagley, 473 U. S., at 678).
As the State acknowledged at oral argument, Farr was "paid for a critical role in the scenario that led to the indictment." Tr. of Oral Arg. 34. Farr's declaration, presented to the federal habeas court, asserts that Farr, not Banks, initiated the proposal to obtain a gun to facilitate the commission of robberies. See App. 442-443, ¶¶ 7-8; supra, at 678. Had Farr not instigated, upon Deputy Sheriff Huff's request, the Dallas excursion to fetch Banks's gun, the prosecution would have had slim, if any, evidence that Banks planned to "continue" committing violent acts. App. 147.17
Farr's admission of his instigating role, moreover, would have dampened the prosecution's zeal in urging the jury to bear in mind Banks's "planning and acquisition of a gun to commit robbery," or Banks's "planned violence." Ibid.; see Tr. of Oral Arg. 50.18
17 It bears reiteration here that Banks had no criminal record, id., at 255, ¶ 115, "no history of violence or alcohol abuse," nothing indicative of "[any] particular risk of future violence," App. to Pet. for Cert. C23.
It also appears that the remaining prosecution witness in the penalty phase, Vetrano Jefferson, had omitted crucial details from his 1980 testimony. In his September 1980 testimony, Vetrano Jefferson said that Banks had struck him with a pistol in early April 1980. App. 104-105; supra, at 679-680. In the federal habeas proceeding, Vetrano Jefferson elaborated that he, not Banks, had initiated that incident by making "disrespectful comments" about Demetra Jefferson, Banks's girlfriend. App. 337, ¶ 4. Vetrano Jefferson recounted that he "grew angry" when Banks objected to the comments, and only then did a fight ensue, in the course of which Banks struck Vetrano Jefferson. Ibid.
18 On brief and at oral argument, the State suggests that "the damaging evidence was Banks's willing abetment of Farr's commission of a violent crime, not Banks's own intent to commit such an act." Brief for Respondent 25 (emphasis in original); Tr. of Oral Arg. 50. See also post, at 707-708 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). In the penalty-phase summation, however, the prosecution highlighted Banks's propen-
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