Lucci v. Medlin

Summary

The court reversed the denial of habeas relief because the State failed to disclose a police report describing other armed white men threatening to shoot Black residents shortly after the murder, and that report was material under the Brady standard. The report could have led to admissible evidence, supported an alternative-perpetrator theory, and weakened confidence in a prosecution heavily dependent on eyewitness identification. The court rejected the petitioners’ separate claims concerning the eyewitness’s alleged coercion because the habeas court’s credibility findings were not clearly erroneous.