U.S. v. Coppa, DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS
| Decision Date | 01 August 2000 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 01-3031,DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS |
| Parties | (2nd. Cir. 2001) IN RE: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PETITIONER. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. FRANK COPPA, SR., ERNEST MONTEVECCHI, A/K/A/ BUTCH, DANIEL PERSICO, JACK BASILE, ROCCO BASILE, LARRY BERMAN, JOHN CIOFFOLETTI, JOHN DOUKAS, WALTER DURCHALTER, A/K/A DUTCH, EDWARD GARAFOLA, DANIEL LEV, EUGENE LOMABARDO, EDMOND NAGEL, ALFRED PALAGONIA, ALEKS PAUL, JOSEPH POLITO, SR., LAWRENCE RAY, ABRAHAM SALAMAN, AND GIUSEPPE TEMPERINO, A/K/A JOSEPH TEMPERINO,, NEW YORK COUNCIL OF DEFENSE LAWYERS, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS, AND NEW YORK STATE ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS, AMICUS CURIAE |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Petition for a writ of mandamus to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (I. Leo Glasser, Judge), which held, as a general rule, that Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150 (1972), and their progeny impose upon the Government a constitutional duty to disclose, following indictment, all exculpatory and impeachment materials immediately upon request by a defendant, even if the request is made far in advance of trial.
We hold that the Government has a constitutional duty to disclose only "material" exculpatory and impeachment evidence, and only when such evidence is needed for its effective use at trial or at a plea proceeding and that, therefore, the District Court erred in holding that due process requires disclosure of all such evidence immediately upon a defendant's request.
Mandamus granted and remanded.
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Eric Corngold, Assistant United States Attorney (Cecil C. Scott, Assistant United States Attorney, of counsel; Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney, on the brief), Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, Ny, for Petitioners.
Jay Goldberg (Andrew Weinstein, Jeffrey Lichtman, Joseph Bondy, Larry Bronson, of counsel), New York, Ny, for Defendants-Respondents.
John H. Doyle, III (Victor J. Rocco, of counsel), New York Council of Defense Lawyers, New York, Ny, for Amicus Curiae.
Before: Newman and Cabranes, Circuit Judges, and Underhill, District Judge.*
The government's obligations under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), are seemingly well-established. The prosecution has a constitutional duty to disclose evidence favorable to an accused when such evidence is material to guilt or punishment. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 87. This duty covers not only exculpatory material, but also information that could be used to impeach a key government witness. See Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 154 (1972). Brady does not, however, require the prosecution to disclose all exculpatory and impeachment material; it need disclose only material "that, if suppressed, would deprive the defendant of a fair trial." United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 675 (1985). In the context of Brady, a defendant is deprived of a fair trial only where there is a reasonable probability that the government's suppression affected the outcome of the case, see id. at 682, or where the suppressed evidence "could reasonably be taken to put the whole case in such a different light as to undermine confidence in the verdict," Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 435 (1995).
With respect to when the prosecution must make a disclosure required by Brady, the law also appears to be settled. Brady material must be disclosed in time for its effective use at trial, see, e.g., Leka v. Portuondo, 257 F.3d 89, 100 (2d Cir. 2001), or at a plea proceeding, see United States v. Persico, 164 F.3d 796, 804 (2d Cir. 1999); Tate v. Wood, 963 F.2d 20, 24 (2d Cir. 1992). The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (I. Leo Glasser, Judge), however-reinterpreting Brady and its progeny-held that, in all cases, the Constitution requires the government to provide a defendant with all exculpatory and impeachment materials immediately upon request by a defendant, even if the request is made far in advance of trial. See United States v. Shvarts, 90 F. Supp. 2d 219, 224-29 (E.D.N.Y. 2000); Trial Transcript at 58, 69-70 (Feb. 2, 2001) (). The District Court carved out a limited exception to its holding for evidence that, if disclosed, could endanger a potential government witness; however, it ruled that, in all other instances, the prosecution has a constitutional duty to disclose all Brady and Giglio material immediately upon request by the defense. In response to this ruling, the Government filed a petition for a writ of mandamus.
This petition arises out of a February 2, 2001, scheduling order issued by the District Court in preparation for trial.
Defendants stand accused in an indictment returned on March 1, 2000, with engaging in various crimes related to a large-scale stock fraud and money-laundering scheme.1 Before a trial date had been set,2 several of the defendants moved between November 2000 and February 2001 to compel the Government to disclose immediately all exculpatory and impeachment material in its possession. The District Court held a hearing on February 2, 2001, and granted defendants' motions. The District Court based its decision on its prior ruling in United States v. Shvarts, 90 F. Supp. 2d 219 (E.D.N.Y. 2000), where it had held that the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires the prosecution to disclose all exculpatory and impeachment materials as soon after an indictment as such materials are requested by a defendant. See 90 F. Supp. 2d at 224-29.
After the indictment had been filed in Shvarts, the defendants had requested the prosecution to provide, far in advance of trial, all exculpatory and impeachment evidence that was in its possession. The prosecutor in Scvharts had agreed to disclose immediately to the defendants all exculpatory information encompassed by Brady, but had refused to release impeachment evidence relating to potential government witnesses until, in his view, such evidence was needed by the defendants for use at trial. See id. at 225. The prosecutor had argued that Brady and Giglio did not require him to disclose all Brady and Giglio materials immediately upon request by a defendant; in his view, those cases merely required him to disclose such materials in time for the defendant to use them effectively at trial.
The District Court rejected this argument. It noted that, in Brady, the Supreme Court held that a defendant's constitutional rights are violated if the prosecution fails to produce exculpatory evidence "on demand of an accused." See Shvarts, 90 F. Supp. 2d at 226 (quoting Brady, 373 U.S. at 87-88). The District Court reasoned that the Supreme Court's use of the words "on demand of an accused," indicates that the prosecution has an obligation to turn over all exculpatory material-including impeachment evidence relating to potential government witnesses-as soon as a defendant requests such material. See id. at 226. Moreover, according to the District Court, the "materiality" of the exculpatory or impeachment material-that is, whether its suppression would deprive defendants of a fair trial-need not be considered when defining the scope of a defendant's constitutional right to disclosure.3 See id. The District Court therefore ordered the prosecutor in Shvarts to disclose immediately to the defendants all impeachment material in its possession. The District Court held, however, that if the prosecutor believed that "immediate disclosure of impeachment evidence would pose a serious threat to the life or safety of a prospective witness," he could file an ex parte application to modify the scope of the order. See id. at 229. The prosecutor in Shvarts, for reasons that are not disclosed in the record of the instant case, did not seek appellate review of the District Court's order.
The Government was soon presented, however, with another opportunity to challenge the rule enunciated by Judge Glasser in Shvarts. Like the defendants in Shvarts, defendants here moved far in advance of trial, pursuant to Brady and Giglio, to compel the Government to disclose immediately all exculpatory material and impeachment material relating to potential government witnesses. As in Shvarts, the Government agreed to disclose immediately all exculpatory information encompassed by Brady, but refused to turn over impeachment evidence relating to potential government witnesses. The Government argued that immediate disclosure of impeachment evidence was not compelled by Brady or Giglio, and contended that impeachment material could be released much closer to the time of trial. The District Court disagreed. It adhered to the approach that it had adopted in Shvarts and granted defendants' motions. The District Court therefore ordered the immediate disclosure of all impeachment materials in possession of the Government, unless the Government could show that such disclosure would endanger the life or safety of a potential witness. When the Government suggested that it might seek review of the District Court's decision, the District Court acknowledged the Government's "very strong interest in having the Shvarts case tested" and indicated that it would welcome appellate consideration of the issue. The Government subsequently filed the instant petition seeking an order compelling the District Court to vacate that portion of its February 2, 2001, scheduling order requiring the Government (in accordance with the general rule of constitutional law enunciated in Shvarts) to immediately produce all impeachment material.
In support of its petition, the Government argues that the District Court exceeded its authority in finding that it had a constitutional obligation to immediately disclose impeachment material...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Grega v. Pettengill
...recognized that "ensuring the reliability of any criminal verdict" is within the purview of the Due Process Clause. United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 139 (2d Cir.2001) (holding that due process requires disclosure of Brady material in time for effective use by defense). Grega claims tha......
-
U.S. v. Eppolito
...probability will exist that the outcome would have been different if an earlier disclosure had been made." United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 142 (2d Cir.2001). See also Leka v. Portuondo, 257 F.3d 89, 100 (2d 2. Application of Law to Facts Defendants argue that a new trial is warranted ......
-
United States v. Barret
...it intends to produce the Giglio material at the same time it produces Jencks Act material.28 ( Id. at 52 (citing United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 142 (2d Cir.2001)).)A. Legal Standard “Under Brady and its progeny, ‘the Government has a constitutional duty to disclose favorable evidenc......
-
U.S. v. Solomonyan
...an obligation to produce Brady evidence in sufficient time for the defense to make effective use of it at trial. See United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 144 (2d Cir.2001). Here, the government has represented to defense counsel that it knows of no Brady material and that it will disclose ......
-
Discovery
...2003) (disclosing impeaching report Friday before trial in a five-ream stack of reports did not satisfy Brady ); United States v. Coppa , 267 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 2001) (immediate disclosure not required, disagreeing with Shvarts on this point; but prosecutor must assess materiality of informa......
-
Trial
...that district judge retains authority to order disclosure of exculpatory witness statements before trial); but see United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 146 (2d Cir. 2001) (finding that a “District Court’s power to order pretrial disclosure is constrained by the Jencks Act” and thus, the di......
-
Pre-trial discovery
...as to whether a reasonable probability will exist that the outcome would have been different if disclosure had been made. See In re U.S. , 267 F.3d 132, 142 (2d Cir. 2001). A prosecutor’s constitutional role is obviously different from a defense attorney’s constitutional role. Prosecutors h......
-
Digital ecosystem of accountability
...right to discovery in a criminal case . . . .”). 239. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1962). 240. See United States v. Coppa, 267 F.3d 132, 144 (2d Cir. 2001). 241. See, e.g. , United States v. Blood, 435 F.3d 612, 627 (6th Cir. 2006). 242. See Baer, supra note, at 7 (explaining how......