Donald C. Lynch v. Kentucky

This case concerns Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), and its progeny. The prosecution’s theory of the case was based solely on Petitioner’s estranged wife’s testimony. Her pretrial police interviews, along with other witnesses, were audio-recorded and supplied to the defense in substantially inaudible condition. The defense complained, and the trial court ordered the prosecution to provide written transcripts of their witnesses’ statements. The prosecutor represented the transcripts as everything comprehensible and known to himfrom the original tapes in the possession ofhis lead investigator. It was ultimately discovered that the detective who made the recordings, and manufactured the transcripts, had possessed perfectly audible recordings, and had suppressed material impeachment evidence through the insertion of false information, false pronouns, and omissions that were unnecessary and unjustified.

1. Is the decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeals in conflict with Brady v. Maryland, and its progeny, when the state court shifted to the defense, the duty to learn of favorable impeachment evidence in the possession of the prosecutor’s lead investigator?

2. Is the decision of the Kentucky Court of Appeals in conflict with Brady v. Maryland, and its progeny, when the state court did a sufficiency of evidence test and failed to distinguish between the guilt and punishment phases of the trial concerning the materiality of the suppressed information?