State v. Maniccia, 68607

Decision Date26 June 1984
Docket NumberNo. 68607,68607
Citation355 N.W.2d 256
PartiesSTATE of Iowa, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jon Michael MANICCIA, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtIowa Court of Appeals

Raymond E. Rogers, Asst. Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Mary Jane Blink, Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff-appellee.

Heard by SNELL, P.J., and SCHLEGEL and SACKETT, JJ.

SACKETT, Judge.

Defendant Maniccia appeals from his conviction for delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine) in violation of Iowa Code section 204.401(1)(a)(1981). He asserts on appeal: (1) that he was denied due process by the State's intentional destruction of evidence; (2) that the trial court erred in admitting certain testimony over hearsay and constitutional objection; (3) that testimony of a police officer concerning statements made by a voice he could not identify was improperly admitted; and (4) that he should have been permitted to introduce a diagram of his house into evidence in surrebuttal.

Defendant was charged by information with delivery of cocaine in violation of Iowa Code section 204.401(1)(a)(1981) and convicted following a jury trial where conflicting evidence was presented concerning a drug transaction.

A police officer testified that he and an informant went to the defendant's house to purchase cocaine and that he waited while the defendant and the informant went into the kitchen. The informant returned and told him that the defendant was going to the basement to get the cocaine and that they should go there shortly. Maniccia then went down the basement stairs. The officer and the informant subsequently went to the basement, picked up some cocaine, and returned upstairs, at which time the officer gave Maniccia $475.

Maniccia offered a somewhat different version of events, testifying that the informant had previously stored the cocaine in the basement and that in the kitchen he had explained that he wanted to repay a loan by having defendant sell the cocaine to the officer. Maniccia testified that he refused to participate in the transaction and did not go to the basement, that the informant went to the basement alone, and that he was later given money by the informant, not the officer. Maniccia's version of events was corroborated by a witness who testified that he was present in the kitchen, and by another witness who testified that he was present in the basement and that it was the informant and not the defendant who had been there.

The informant had been wired with a microphone and his conversations were monitored from two locations and tape recorded at the more distant of the two. One of the officers who made the tape testified that they erased it when, upon replay, it contained mostly static with only a few intelligible words. Judge Carstensen overruled a pretrial motion to dismiss based on the destruction of the tape, production of which had been sought in a pretrial motion. Judge Briles refused defendant's request for an instruction permitting the jury to draw an inference adverse to the state from the destruction of the tape.

A police officer at the monitoring location where no tape was made was able to hear the informant's conversations but could identify only the voices of the informant and the officer in the house. Over hearsay and constitutional objection he was permitted to testify that an unidentified voice made the following statement: "You get the money from him and take him to the basement," and "You can cut it with no problem." The officer inside the house testified, inter alia, that Maniccia told him that a person could "add to" the cocaine.

Defendant also objected on hearsay and constitutional grounds to testimony by the officer in the house concerning what the informant had told him about the conversation with defendant in the kitchen, including inculpatory statements allegedly made by defendant. The trial court overruled the objection but later instructed the jury that the evidence was only to be considered for the purpose of explaining the officer's subsequent action.

During the State's case in chief, the defense, on cross-examination of the officer who had been in the house, had him draw a diagram of where he had been when he observed defendant start down the basement stairs. Maniccia denied having gone to the basement and introduced other evidence, including photographs and two diagrams, tending to show that the officer could not have observed defendant start down the stairs from the position where he claimed to have been. On rebuttal the State called the officer and two other officers who had subsequently been in the house to contradict the defendant's evidence. The State was permitted, over objection, to introduce into evidence another diagram of the house, but in surrebuttal the court sustained the State's objection to admission of a drawn-to-scale diagram of the house.

I.

We first address Maniccia's argument that he was denied due process by the State's "intentional destruction" of the tape recording of the alleged cocaine transaction. It is Maniccia's position that the district court erred in failing to impose a sanction for the State's destruction of such evidence. Maniccia's motion to dismiss, based upon the destruction of evidence, was denied. Maniccia's requested jury instruction, which would have permitted a favorable inference for defendant from the destruction of evidence, was likewise denied.

Because the defendant is asserting a violation of basic constitutional safeguards, our scope of review is de novo and we will make an independent evaluation of the totality of the circumstances. State v. Davis, 304 N.W.2d 432, 435 (Iowa 1981).

Where a criminal defendant claims a due process violation premised upon an allegation of the State's suppression of evidence, our analysis begins with the three-part test set forth in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). See State v. Brown, 337 N.W.2d 507, 509 (Iowa 1983). The Brady test requires: (1) a proper defense request for the evidence; (2) a showing that the evidence would be favorable to the defendant; and (3) a showing that the evidence was material. Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1193-97, 10 L.Ed.2d at 218. Under the Brady test, good or bad faith on the part of the state is irrelevant. Id. State v. Brown, 337 N.W.2d at 509.

In this case, Maniccia's specific request for "any and all voice recordings of the transaction" clearly satisfies the first prong of the Brady test. Where, as here, the suppressed evidence has been destroyed, the application of the second prong, favorableness to the defendant, and the third prong, materiality, becomes troublesome. In State v. Brown, 337 N.W.2d at 510, the court held that it would be unfair to require the defense to show favorableness when it is impossible to determine the nature of the evidence, and noted that a contrary holding could encourage "loss" of evidence to avoid a damaging disclosure. In response to that problem, the court in Brown adopted the rule in United States v. Bryant, 439 F.2d 642, 648 (D.C.Cir.1971), which it characterized as a "blend of 'favorability' and 'materiality.' " Brown, 337 N.W.2d at 510. The Brown court stated the rule as follows: "Where evidence is material and there is the "unavoidable possibility that the [evidence] might have been significantly favorable to the accused" denial of access to the evidence is a denial of due process. Bryant, 439 F.2d at 648." Id. at 511. Evidence is material if it is offered to prove a propositon which is a matter in issue or is probative of the matter in issue. Id. The tape recording of the conversation which occurred during the alleged cocaine transaction is clearly material, because the central issue at trial was Maniccia's involvement in the transaction as evidenced by what was said in Maniccia's residence on that day. Both the State and the defense offered testimony regarding the conversations that took place, and much of the State's testimony was controverted by defense witnesses. We find that the Bryant test was met in this case because the evidence which was destroyed is material, and there is the "unavoidable possibility" that the evidence might have been significantly favorable to Maniccia. [emphasis added]. The State's denial of access to the evidence is therefore a violation of due process. We need not examine the State's motives in destroying the tape recording, because good or bad faith on the part of the State is irrelevant in establishing a due process violation resulting from the state's suppression of evidence. See Brown, 337 N.W.2d at 509.

The defendant argues that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to dismiss based upon the destruction of evidence, and in refusing to submit his requested jury instruction. Maniccia also urges, in the alternative, that on remand this court should order the suppression of the testimony of the D.C.I. agent and the undercover police officer regarding the conversations which were tape recorded.

In this case, we find that dismissal of the criminal prosecution is not an appropriate remedy. See State v. Langlet, 283 N.W.2d 330, 333 (Iowa 1979). Similarly, suppression of the testimony of witnesses to the transaction is not an appropriate remedy for the destruction of the tape.

The requested jury instruction was;

If you find from the evidence that there existed a tape recording of material statements made or words spoken at or about the scene of the alleged transaction existed [sic] and that the state intentionally destroyed the tape recording, you may, but are not required to, infer that the information contained on the tape recording would be, if available, adverse to the state and favorable to the defendant.

We believe that in this case, where a due process violation occurred due to the state's destruction of evidence, the appropriate remedy is a jury instruction permitting a favorable inference for the defendant from the...

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  • Norton Healthcare, Inc. v. Disselkamp
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky
    • 28 Mayo 2020
    ...on the tape recording would be, if available, adverse to the state and favorable to the defendant." (citing State v. Maniccia , 355 N.W.2d 256, 259 (Iowa App. 1984) )).111 Id. at 789.112 In fact, the Beglin court explicitly declined to adopt "a special rule for measuring the quantum or qual......
  • Sanborn v. Com.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky
    • 9 Junio 1988
    ...destruction of the evidence. Reversal with directions to give the requested instruction is the appropriate remedy. In State v. Maniccia, 355 N.W.2d 256, 259 (Iowa App.1984), in similar circumstances, the court held that a missing evidence instruction 3 was sufficient to offset the prosecuto......
  • State v. Hulbert
    • United States
    • Iowa Supreme Court
    • 19 Febrero 1992
    ...evidence does not constitute a denial of due process of law"). Our review of the record on this point is de novo. State v. Maniccia, 355 N.W.2d 256, 258 (Iowa App.1984). Although the defendant attempts to persuade us otherwise, we are convinced that the tape erasure was negligent, not inten......
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    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky
    • 24 Septiembre 2020
    ...of the evidence. Reversal with directions to give the requested instruction is the appropriate remedy. In State v. Maniccia, 355 N.W.2d 256, 259 (Iowa App. 1984), in similar circumstances, the court held that a missing evidence instruction was sufficient to offset the prosecutor's misconduc......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Reforming Eyewitness Identification Law and Practices to Protect the Innocent
    • United States
    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska Law Review No. 42, 2022
    • Invalid date
    ...(and note as an aside, Youngblood was later exonerated by DNA)); People v. Wimberly, 5 Cal.4th 773, 793 (Ca. 1992); State v. Maiccia, 355 N.W.2d 256, 259 (Iowa 1984); State v. Fulminante, 975 P.2d 75, 93 (Ariz. 1999). See also Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 446 and n. 15 (1995) (jury instr......

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