Farley v. United States

694 A.2d 887, 1997 D.C. App. LEXIS 113, 1997 WL 290158
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 22, 1997
Docket92-CF-1039, 95-CO-488
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 694 A.2d 887 (Farley v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farley v. United States, 694 A.2d 887, 1997 D.C. App. LEXIS 113, 1997 WL 290158 (D.C. 1997).

Opinions

RUIZ, Associate Judge.

Appellant, Edward T. Farley, was convicted by a jury of distribution of cocaine while armed, possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance while armed, assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence or dangerous offense, and carrying a pistol without a license.

Farley contends that the trial court committed error when it failed to require that the government disclose Brady1 material, given to the police shortly after the incident by, Dennis Miles. On appeal, Farley contends further that a complaint filed by Den[888]*888nis Miles with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (“CCRB”), which first came to light during the § 28-110 hearing, also should have been disclosed under Brady. We remand the record to the trial court for a hearing on the Brady issue and the possibly related issue of the trial court’s refusal to give a missing witness instruction with respect to Dennis Miles.2

This prosecution arose from a police drug buy and bust operation. The relevant facts on the Brady issue revolve around the time, immediately after the drug buy, when the police were in hot pursuit of the suspect, whom police claim was Farley, including incidents in Dennis Miles’ apartment. One of the three officers in the drug buy and bust operation, Officer Johnson, was the first to pursue Farley and saw him enter the apartment at 732 Langston Terrace, N.E., where Dennis Miles lived, and slam the door shut. Officer Johnson called for backup officers and waited a few seconds for them to arrive before entering the premises. Officer Johnson testified that he and the backup officers knocked on the door, opened it (it was unlocked), and went into the apartment. Once inside, they spotted a jacket and a hat in plain view on the sofa and found Miles in his bedroom. In the jacket’s pocket were papers identifying Farley by name and a medicine bottle containing cocaine. Miles’ testimony at the § 23-110 hearing,3 however, was different: he had just come out of his bedroom and was on the sofa when Ms. Cooper, Miles’ girlfriend, opened the door and the police came running into his apartment, guns drawn, grabbed and threw him on the floor,4 punching, stomping, slamming and threatening him while asking him if he had seen Farley run through his apartment. Miles testified that he told the officers that he did not hear or see anyone running through his apartment. He further testified that the officers had brought a jacket into his living room from the outside, in direct contradiction of the police’s testimony that they found the jacket on the sofa.5 After the questioning in his apartment, Miles said he was taken to the police station where he gave a statement. Miles testified that he was also questioned by police officers, including Officer Zerega, in Miles’ apartment a couple of days later. At the § 23-110 hearing, Officer Flynn testified that he questioned Miles a couple of days after the buy and bust operation. According to Officer Flynn, at that time, Miles said that he did not know how the jacket got onto the sofa, that because of his disability he frequently left his door open, and that people came in and out of his apartment. Notwithstanding Miles’ testimony that he gave several statements to various police officers, one of which is confirmed by Officer Flynn, there is no documentation of any kind in the record reflecting the police’s communications with Miles. At oral argument, the government stated that there are no documents recording the various statements given to the police by Miles.

Miles also testified that, in addition to the statements given to the police officers, he filed a citizen’s complaint with the CCRB reporting mistreatment by the police at the time they entered his apartment in pursuit of Farley.6 Farley argues that Miles’ statements to the police and the six-page citizen’s complaint constitute exculpatory Brady material and that, as a result of the govern[889]*889ment’s failure to disclose this evidence, Farley is entitled to a new trial.7

Brady and its progeny require the government to disclose to the defense, upon request, evidence in its possession that is “material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution.” 378 U.S. at 87, 88 S.Ct. at 1197. However, a conviction will not be reversed on Brady grounds for the prosecutor’s failure to disclose absent a further showing that “disclosure of the suppressed evidence to competent counsel would have made a different result reasonably probable.” Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S. 419, 441, 115 S.Ct. 1555, 1569, 131 L.Ed.2d 490 (1995). In this context, “[a] ‘reasonable probability’ is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3383, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985).

On appeal, Farley argues that had Miles’ statements to the police and his complaint to the CCRB been available to the defense, Miles would have been the best witness for the misidentification defense strategy because his testimony would have put the police officers’ credibility8 into question and pointed out the discrepancies in the government’s case. The government, in turn, argues that since Miles’ name and address and the substance of his statement to the police were disclosed to Farley, it fulfilled its Brady obligations. With respect to the CCRB complaint, the government contends that because it was not in possession of Miles’ complaint to the CCRB and was unaware of its existence, it cannot be held responsible for failure to disclose under Brady. See Martinez v. Wainwright, 621 F.2d 184, 186 (5th Cir.1980).

The Brady issue raised by Farley could well be significant, but it is difficult to evaluate on the sparse record before us. To begin with, it is anomalous that there is no evidence in the record (or even outside the record as revealed by the government at oral argument) of any documentation whatsoever of Dennis Miles’ statements to the police.9 Further, with respect to the CCRB complaint, we cannot conclude, on this record, that the government did not violate Brady. It has been held that “ ‘the duty of disclosure affects not only the prosecutor, but the Government as a whole, including its investigative agencies.’” Martinez, supra, 621 F.2d at 187 n. 4 (quoting United States v. Bryant, 439 F.2d 642, 650 (D.C.Cir.1971)). Furthermore, even when the prosecution may not know about certain evidence, “the individual prosecutor has a duty to learn of any favorable evidence known to the others acting on the government’s behalf in the case, including the police.” Kyles, supra, 514 U.S. at 437, 115 S.Ct. at 1567. As stated in Kyles,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Corey D. Askew v. United States
District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2020
Darius Briscoe v. United States
181 A.3d 651 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2018)
Ellswsorth Colbert v. United States
125 A.3d 326 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2015)
Boyd v. United States
908 A.2d 39 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2006)
Sykes v. United States
897 A.2d 769 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2006)
Tucker v. United States
871 A.2d 453 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2005)
Guest v. United States
867 A.2d 208 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2005)
Ebron v. United States
838 A.2d 1140 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2003)
Cook v. United States
828 A.2d 194 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2003)
Robinson v. United States
825 A.2d 318 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2003)
Card v. United States
776 A.2d 581 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2001)
Boone v. United States
769 A.2d 811 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2001)
Farley v. United States
767 A.2d 225 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2001)
Gaither v. United States
759 A.2d 655 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2000)
Wade v. State
986 P.2d 438 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1999)
Bullock v. United States
709 A.2d 87 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
694 A.2d 887, 1997 D.C. App. LEXIS 113, 1997 WL 290158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farley-v-united-states-dc-1997.