noting that the “substantial possibility ... that impeachment with prior convictions will affect the outcome, whether it goes to general credibility ... or to a more specific target of reliability, such as bias” is “especially strong in the case of a key government witness” (citation omitted)
How later courts described this case
- noting that the “substantial possibility ... that impeachment with prior convictions will affect the outcome, whether it goes to general credibility ... or to a more specific target of reliability, such as bias” is “especially strong in the case of a key government witness” (citation omitted)
- discussing Brady v. Maryland and decisions of the Supreme Court "premised on the view that due process requires pretrial (or at least at-trial) disclosure, upon specific request, of evidence material to guilt or innocence"
- where this court held that impeachable convictions and/or delinquency adjudications of witnesses are Brady material, and the government is required to disclose such information within its knowledge
- requiring disclosure of known impeachable convictions of government witnesses
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
NEBEKER, Associate Judge,
concurring:
I concur that the special rules for the benefit of convicted juveniles must give way under due process and that juvenile records of witnesses may be producible at trial to show bias and, if the court determines that the records will likely be material to the outcome, to impeach a witness’s general credibility. I emphasize that this rule applies equally to all parties, i. e., juvenile adjudications of both government and defense witnesses may be producible at trial subject to the procedure specified in the court’s opinion.