Pitts v. State
| Decision Date | 12 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-680,77-680 |
| Citation | 362 So.2d 147 |
| Parties | Henry PITTS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Elliot H. Scherker, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen. and Steven L. Bolotin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before HAVERFIELD, C. J., and PEARSON and HENDRY, JJ.
Defendant, Henry Pitts, appeals his convictions for involuntary sexual battery and aggravated battery.
Defendant primarily argues as reversible error the refusal of the trial court to require the prosecution to disclose "favorable" evidence to the defense thereby denying him due process of law.
Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion demanding that the prosecution disclose sworn statements made to the prosecutor by prosecution witnesses Wright and Brant which allegedly contained "favorable" evidence. Except for the victim, Wright and Brant were the only witnesses who placed the defendant in the area at the time of the criminal episode. The trial court held an in camera inspection of these statements and then denied defendant's request for production thereof.
In Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused upon request results in a violation of due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or punishment. Brady imposes an affirmative duty on the prosecution to produce at the appropriate time requested evidence which is materially favorable to the accused either as direct or impeaching evidence. Williams v. Dutton, 400 F.2d 797 (5th Cir. 1968); State v. Drayton, 226 So.2d 469 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). With respect to what constitutes "favorable" evidence, the court in State v. Gillespie, 227 So.2d 550 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969) explained:
"But such duty to disclose does not require the prosecution, on demand, to meticulously 'comb its files for bits and pieces of evidence which conceivably could be favorable to the defense.' It does require however, that the prosecution be ever alert to its true responsibility in the premises. The bounds of this responsibility are difficult to accurately prescribe, but the best guidelines we have found were laid down by the Maryland court in State v. Giles, and were subsequently cited with approval by Mr. Justice Brennan in Giles v. Maryland:
'As we see it, the prosecution should disclose to the defense such information as it has that may reasonably be considered admissible and useful to the defense in the sense that it is probably...
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Johnson v. State, AF-62
...investigatory." Appellant has failed to demonstrate that the trial court abused its discretion in this determination. Pitts v. State, 362 So.2d 147 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1978). Although appellant firmly insists that the information contained in Officer Dorsey's report is "material," no facts are su......
- Pitts v. State