State v. Goodson, 21440

• Citation: 277 S.E.2d 602,276 S.C. 243
• Decision Date: 23 April 1981
• Docket Number: No. 21440,21440
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina
• Parties: The STATE, Respondent, v. Michael GOODSON, Appellant.

Page 602

277 S.E.2d 602

276 S.C. 243

The STATE, Respondent, v. Michael GOODSON, Appellant.

No. 21440.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

April 23, 1981.

Warren & Pitts, Montreat, for appellant.

Atty. Gen. Daniel R. McLeod and Asst. Atty. Gen. Sally G. Young, Columbia, and Sol. Randolph Murdaugh, Jr., Hampton, for respondent.

HARWELL, Justice:

Michael Goodson appeals the decision of the trial judge which denies him a new trial. He was convicted for housebreaking, grand larceny and safecracking at the Allendale branch office of the State Highway Department.

This Court has previously heard this matter. ¹ We affirmed the trial judge in part but remanded the case with the direction that the trial judge reconsider appellant's Brady v. Maryland ² motion in light of the United States Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976). We set forth the matter for remand as follows:

"Prior to trial, counsel made a Brady motion for any favorable evidence including any physical evidence or test results which could be beneficial to his client. The solicitor said that he had no exculpatory evidence other than a statement of which appellant had a copy.

"During the trial, prosecution witnesses referred to the existence of certain evidence which appellant had not seen and which was never offered for introduction. After the jury returned its verdict in this case, appellant moved for the trial judge to request the evidence at issue and examine it with him to see whether it would support a motion for a new trial. He also asked that this material be attached to the record for this appeal. The trial judge denied appellant's requests and appeared to find that the evidence would not change the results of the trial.

"U. S. v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976) indicates that evidence that is not produced pursuant to a general request for exculpatory material, such as that made here, will not justify a new trial unless it creates a reasonable doubt about the defendant's guilt. The trial judge does not appear to have applied this standard here. Thus, this case is remanded to him for the purpose of his evaluating the evidence at issue here in light of Agurs." 255 S.E.2d at 680.

On remand the trial judge took testimony relative to appellant's proffered evidence, viewed the physical evidence and heard the able arguments of counsel for both sides. The judge concluded, however, that no reasonable doubt about appellant's guilt was created. We disagree.

The standard of review as established in Agurs makes clear that not every instance of nondisclosure following a general Brady request constitutes reversible error.

"The proper standard of materiality must reflect our overriding concern with the justice of the finding of guilt. Such a finding is permissible only if supported by evidence establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It necessarily follows that if the omitted evidence creates a reasonable doubt that did not otherwise exist, constitutional error has been committed. This means that the omission must be evaluated in the context of the entire record. If there is no reasonable doubt about guilt whether or not the additional evidence is considered, there is no justification for a new trial. On the other hand, if the verdict is already of questionable validity, additional evidence of relatively minor importance might be sufficient to create a reasonable doubt." 427 U.S. at 112-113, 96 S.Ct. at 2401-02.

As is to be readily noted from the language in Agurs, each case turns upon the strength of the evidence presented in the context of the entire record before the court. The court on review is given a delicate task. We must review the evidence but we do not at this stage pass upon the sufficiency of that evidence. The fact finder must establish the doubt in fact. Here we only determine whether the appellant's right to a fair trial has been impaired and if so direct a retrial of the matter.

In this case the Highway Department office in Allendale was broken into. Among the items taken were inspection stickers, license plates and the camera used to photograph licensees and to simultaneously create driver's license impressions. Appellant was subsequently apprehended and found to be in possession of these items. He confessed to receiving stolen goods only. Appellant contends that his brother broke into the building and took the items; he claims no prior knowledge of the incident.

The testimony reveals that appellant and David Goodson, appellant's then 17 year old brother, drove from Columbia to Allendale on the date of the crime, ostensibly to enable David to meet appellant's wife. She was not home so the brothers spent most of the day at the wife's residence. From here the story develops two versions.

Appellant states that David became restless and went out for awhile, returned, and then borrowed appellant's automobile. When David returned that night, he allegedly had the items from the highway office with him.

David's account traces that of his brother but he states that the appellant, not he, took the car and returned after nightfall with the stolen goods. David also states that appellant had earlier spoken of having "something big" planned.

David denied having any prior knowledge of the criminal events at issue. Only David directly implicated the appellant in these crimes. Thus, appellant's conviction turned primarily upon the credibility of David.

Among the items recovered from the appellant was a roll of film within the highway department camera. This roll has six "film report" exposures which identify the office of origin. There are then eleven standard licensee photo-makeups. Immediately following the last licensee exposure there is an exposure, of inferior quality, of David Goodson. There are then in sequence three largely blank, exposed frames and seven exposures of a setting within a building. This roll of film was not disclosed to appellant at trial. The appellant contends that the last exposures show objects within the department office and that David therefore had to be there. The State argues that the exposures starting with that of David were made elsewhere after the break-in.

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