Aguilera v. State

• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: ZAGER
• Citation: Aguilera v. State , 807 N.W.2d 249 (Iowa 2011)
• Decision Date: 09 December 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10–0354.,10–0354.
• Parties: Jose Angel AGUILERA, Appellant, v. STATE of Iowa, Appellee.

807 N.W.2d 249

Jose Angel AGUILERA, Appellant,

v.STATE of Iowa, Appellee.

No. 10–0354.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 9, 2011.

Martyn S. Elberg of Elberg Law Office, P.L.C., Eagle Grove, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Sharon K. Hall, Assistant Attorney General, and Eric R. Simonson, County Attorney, for appellee.

ZAGER, Justice.

Jose Angel Aguilera was convicted of second-degree murder in 1997. In his second application for postconviction relief, Aguilera contends that he was denied due process when the prosecution failed to turn over an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) file containing several witness statements prior to Aguilera's initial trial. The district court found the material was suppressed and that it was favorable, but that it was not material to the issue of guilt and dismissed the application. The court of appeals affirmed, and we granted further review. For the reasons expressed below, we reverse the district court.

I. Factual Background and Procedural History.

On August 18, 1996, Aguilera attended a party that was hosted by Salvador Guido.¹ The victim, Jesus “Jesse” Garcia, also attended, though neither had been invited. Garcia had recently moved in with Aguilera's wife, Zeidy. Guido and Lorenzo Lopez, who was also at the house that night, were the only “eyewitnesses” who testified at trial. At trial, each testified that Aguilera approached Garcia while Garcia was sitting in his Blazer. The two exchanged words and taunts, and Garcia exited the car. At that point, Aguilera pulled out a gun and shot Garcia in the chest. Although both Guido and Lopez acknowledged Garcia and Aguilera struggled over the weapon at some point, there was disagreement as to how far apart the two were when the gun went off. Guido placed the two six feet apart when the shot was fired and testified they only struggled after the shot was fired. Lopez indicated the two had struggled over the gun before or at the same time as the shot was fired. At trial, witnesses testified that Aguilera was afraid that Garcia, who had just moved in with Aguilera's wife, would attempt to kidnap Aguilera's daughter. According to their testimony, Aguilera appeared nervous and mentioned that men might be coming to harm him or take his daughter and that he needed the gun that was ultimately used to shoot Garcia for his own personal protection. Aguilera attempted to portray the shooting as either an accident, self-defense, or as a voluntary manslaughter killing, whereas the State sought a first-degree murder conviction.

In December 1996, a jury found Aguilera guilty of second-degree murder, and the trial court imposed sentence in January 1997. The conviction and sentence were affirmed by the court of appeals in 1998. Aguilera filed a postconviction relief application based on alleged errors in the jury instructions. The application was dismissed in 2000, and he appealed. The appeal was dismissed for want of prosecution later that year. In 2005, Aguilera filed a second application for postconviction relief, which was amended in 2007. The second application is the subject of this appeal. It was based on an alleged Brady violation ² and various other issues that were not appealed. The application alleged that the State failed to turn over a DCI file containing interviews with various people.³ The file was turned over on October 2, 2006. Two of the individuals whose interviews were included in the file testified at trial (Guido and Lopez) and four did not (Ramae Shuver, Zeidy Aguilera, Roberto Reyes, and Graciela Lucio). The contents of these statements and any potential impact they may have had on the trial's outcome will be discussed in greater detail throughout the opinion.

In January of 2010, the district court dismissed Aguilera's postconviction relief application. The district court concluded that the entire DCI file containing the statements had been suppressed and that it contained exculpatory information. However, the district court also concluded that the statements were not material and Aguilera was not prejudiced by not having them available prior to trial. Aguilera appealed this decision. The court of appeals found that portions of Guido's statements contained in the DCI file were not suppressed because they had been revealed to Aguilera by virtue of a detailed pretrial disclosure. The court of appeals affirmed the district court's conclusion that Guido's statement was exculpatory, but not suppressed or material. The court of appeals concluded that Lopez's statements were suppressed and exculpatory, but his statements were also not material to the issue of guilt. The court of appeals found the remaining statements were suppressed and could have had impeachment value, but were not material to the issue of guilt. Accordingly, it affirmed the dismissal. We granted further review.

II. Standard of Review.

“When the applicant's claims are of a constitutional nature, we will conduct a de novo review.” Desimone v. State, 803 N.W.2d 97, 102 (Iowa 2011). Accordingly, we review Brady-due-process-violation claims de novo. Id.

III. Discussion.

The prosecution's affirmative duty to disclose evidence favorable to a defendant can trace its origins to early twentieth century strictures against misrepresentation and is, of course, most prominently associated with the Supreme Court's decision in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Brady held “that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.” 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1196–97, 10 L.Ed.2d at 218; see also Cornell v. State, 430 N.W.2d 384, 385 (Iowa 1988). “To establish a Brady violation has occurred, [the defendant] must prove by a preponderance of the evidence ‘(1) the prosecution suppressed evidence; (2) the evidence was favorable to the defendant; and (3) the evidence was material to the issue of guilt.’ ” Desimone, 803 N.W.2d at 103 (quoting Harrington v. State, 659 N.W.2d 509, 516 (Iowa 2003)); see also Cornell, 430 N.W.2d at 385. Aguilera claims the State's failure to disclose statements the DCI took from six individuals constitutes Brady violations. The statements that form the basis of this appeal came from Lorenzo Lopez, Salvador Guido, Roberto Reyes, Graciela Lucio, Ramae Shuver, and Zeidy Aguilera. Lopez, Guido, Reyes, and Lucio were all at the party where the shooting occurred. Zeidy was at the residence she shared with Garcia at the time of the shooting. Shuver was not present, but worked with Garcia and Aguilera at Sparboe Farms. Shuver told the DCI she suspected Aguilera was extorting money from undocumented workers.

A. Suppression of Evidence. Nondisclosure of evidence is the touchstone of suppression. Desimone, 803 N.W.2d at 103. To establish that the evidence was suppressed, Aguilera does not need to show any “bad faith” on the part of the State. Id. The State has a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence regardless of whether the accused requests it. Id.; see also Harrington, 659 N.W.2d at 522. The test for suppression does not require that an individual prosecutor knows of the information; rather, a prosecutor has a responsibility “to learn of any favorable evidence known to ... others acting on the government's behalf in the case, including the police.” Harrington, 659 N.W.2d at 522 (internal quotation marks omitted). Regarding the suppression of evidence, we have stated, “Exculpatory evidence is not ‘suppressed’ if the defendant either knew or should have known of the essential facts permitting him to take advantage of the evidence.” Cornell, 430 N.W.2d at 385. Before we will say that defense counsel lacked diligence or should have known of the exculpatory evidence, “defense counsel must be aware of the potentially exculpatory nature of the evidence and its existence.” Desimone, 803 N.W.2d at 103. We have noted that access to police reports, as opposed to mere knowledge of the reports, provides essential facts and a “range and detail of information necessary to fully understand the implications of the police investigation” that oral disclosure of the reports cannot provide. Harrington, 659 N.W.2d at 522–23 (internal quotation marks omitted).

The district court determined the entire DCI file was suppressed. The court noted that Aguilera's attorney impeached Lopez and Guido at trial with inconsistent statements made during their depositions. It was inconceivable that he would not use the prior inconsistent DCI statements as well, if he had access to them. The court also noted that Aguilera's first attorney testified he never received the DCI file, an inspection of the public defender's file did not reveal any such DCI file, and the State could not offer any document showing the DCI file had been delivered to Aguilera.

On appeal, the only dispute regarding the suppression issue arises out of Guido's statements. Guido's allegedly suppressed statements were taken by DCI agent William Basler on August 19 and 21, 1996, days after the shooting. In these statements, Guido said he was at his house most of the day, cooking meat in preparation for the party he and his roommates were hosting. On August 19, Guido stated he was inside when he heard the gunshot; that he only went outside after the gunshot; that he did not see anyone with a gun that evening; and that when he went outside after he heard the shot, he saw Garcia laying on the ground.

On August 21, Guido gave another statement to Basler. This statement differed from the statement made two days earlier. In the August 21 statement, as well as during his deposition and at trial, Guido claimed to have been outside when he heard the sound of a bottle or can hitting something and that noise caused him to look in the direction of Aguilera and Garcia. He then claimed he saw...