Missouri Supreme Court Vacates Murder Conviction Based On Brady Violation

In a 4-3 decision, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned a first-degree murder conviction based on a Brady disclosure violation.

The court had appointed a special master to take evidence in the high-profile case, which involved the 1991 murder of two sisters thrown off the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River.

the master issued a report in which he found that the state had violated Brady by failing to produce evidence favorable to Mr. Clemons that a witness observed an injury to Mr. Clemons’ face shortly after a police interrogation and that the witness documented his observations of the injury in a written report that was later altered by the state. The master determined that the state’s failure to disclose this evidence was prejudicial to Mr. Clemons because it could have led to the suppression of Mr. Clemons’ confession, a critical part of the state’s case against Mr. Clemons. Substantial evidence supports the master’s findings that the state deliberately violated Brady and that, in the absence of the undisclosed material evidence, the jury’s verdicts are not worthy of confidence. Accordingly, this Court vacates Mr. Clemons’ convictions and sentences for first-degree murder.

The majority holding

Mr. Clemons was denied a fair trial not only because the state’s suppression of the Weeks evidence prejudiced Mr. Clemons at the hearing on the motion to suppress his confession but also because the jury was not able to hear Mr. Weeks’ testimony in determining whether his confession was voluntary. In this regard, even if the trial court did not suppress Mr. Clemons’ confession, it is reasonably probable that the Weeks evidence would have led the trial court to rule against the state’s motion in limine and allow defense counsel to argue during closing arguments that Mr. Clemons’ confession was coerced. The trial court’s rationale for prohibiting this argument was that there was no evidence at trial that Mr. Clemons’ had been beaten to confess. Mr. Weeks’ credible testimony would have provided evidence to support the reasonable inference that he was beaten.

The dissent

The central question addressed in the principal opinion is whether, under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), Clemons’ claim that the state failed to disclose Probation Officer Weeks’ subjective impression of Clemons’ physical condition – an impression that Weeks formed several hours after Clemons claims two police detectives beat him into giving an audiotaped statement – is a sufficient ground to vacate Clemons’ convictions and death sentences now, more than 20 years after his trial. It is not. There was no failure to disclose in this case. The state produced to the defense Weeks’ name, his job, and the document on which Weeks supposedly noted this observation long before trial. More importantly, Clemons already knew about Weeks’ impression because Weeks remarked to Clemons about it at the time.

Even if the state had not disclosed all of this before trial, which it did, Clemons fails to show the type of nondisclosure that, under Brady, requires relief. Brady only applies to two types of evidence: exculpatory evidence concerning guilt or punishment, and impeachment evidence concerning the credibility of a witness who might be determinative of guilt or punishment. Weeks’ evidence is neither. Weeks’ subjective impression of Clemons’ appearance formed hours after Clemons’ interrogation ended has no bearing on whether his audiotaped statement was voluntary. Instead, as Special Master Michael Manners found (and the principal opinion agrees), Weeks’ evidence merely impeaches the credibility of other ancillary witnesses who corroborated the detectives’ denials at the suppression hearing by testifying that Clemons did not appear injured in the hours and days after he gave his statement. Accordingly, Weeks’ evidence is not the sort of evidence to which Brady applies.

Finally, even if Weeks’ evidence qualified as exculpatory or impeachment evidence under Brady, Clemons is not entitled to relief unless that evidence was material, i.e., unless there is a reasonable probability that the jury’s verdicts would have been different had the evidence been disclosed. To establish materiality, Clemons makes a two-step argument: (1) there is a reasonable probability that, if the trial court had heard Weeks’ evidence, it would have suppressed Clemons’ audiotaped statement; and (2) there is a reasonable probability that, if the jury had not heard Clemons’ statement, it would not have convicted him and recommended that he be sentenced to death. Any fair reading of the Master’s Amended Final Report (the “Report”) shows that the Master never reached this second step and, if he had, that Clemons’ claim would have failed.

The 1997  opinion affirming the conviction is linked here.

American Justice aired this episode about the case in 2005. (Mike Frisch)