Freedom Lawyers of America

SIXTH CIRCUIT OPINIONS
MAY, 2002
PROSECUTOR -- Suppression of Evidence Through Loss, Negligence, etc
DISCOVERY -- Prosecutor�s Case File
Derrick Jamison v Terry Collins
#00-3700/3760, May 23, 2002
BOGGS, Daughtrey, Cole
Affirmed district court order granting petition for writ of habeas corpus. Case below:
100 FSupp2d 647 (SD Ohio, 2000).
Petitioner was denied due process of law when the prosecution suppressed evidence
favorable to him, including identifications of possible suspects other than petitioner, information
useful for impeachment of the key prosecution witness, and evidence that directly contradicted
testimony as to how the deceased died. The prosecutor was unaware that the evidence existed
due to the practice of the Cincinnati Police Department to include only inculpatory information in
the �homicide book� turned over to the prosecution.
Petitioner demonstrated cause for failing to raise the Brady claim in his state appeal
because the factual basis for the claim was not reasonably available to counsel. Ohio
affirmatively represented to defense counsel that no favorable evidence existed and cannot argue
that it was unreasonable for counsel not to have caught it suppressing evidence. The suppressed
evidence was both favorable and material. The only other inculpatory evidence, a shoe print
which did not exactly match petitioner�s shoe, was insufficient to produce a conviction.