Banks v. Dretke

Summary

Justice Ginsburg's opinion held that Banks established cause for failing to develop evidence in state court that prosecution witness Robert Farr was a paid informant, because the State concealed that information while representing that it had disclosed the required evidence. The suppressed information was material to the jury's future-dangerousness finding, establishing both prejudice excusing the procedural default and a Brady violation warranting relief from the death sentence. The Court also held that Banks should receive a certificate of appealability concerning whether his claim involving the suppressed Charles Cook interrogation transcript had been tried by implied consent under Rule 15(b). The Fifth Circuit's judgment was reversed and the case remanded. Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, and Breyer joined the entire opinion. Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Scalia, agreed with the certificate-of-appealability ruling but dissented from the Farr ruling, finding no material prejudice and also rejecting Banks's ineffective-assistance claim.