Kyles v. Whitley

514 U.S. 419 (1995)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Dolores Dye, a 60-year-old woman, was doing food shopping and when she put her groceries into the trunk of her car, a man accosted her and shot and killed her. The gunman took the keys to the car and then drove away. Police got statements from six eyewitnesses who offered various descriptions of the gunman. The differences in descriptions could only be said to be quite dramatic, but they all agreed that the man was black. Police decided that the criminal might have left his own car at the lot and left it there when he drove off in Dye's car. They recorded the numbers on all cars present. Three days later a man called police to tell them he may have purchased the stolen car from Curtis Kyles (D). The man was worried that he might himself be a suspect in the murder and he admitted he had been seen driving Dye's car the next day and had changed plates on the car. The informant was eager to implicate D in the killing. The informant then told police where D lived and that after he bought the car he drove D to retrieve his car, and that was on the same side of the lot as the woman who was killed. The informant also claimed that D picked up a purse in the bushes and that the purse was hidden in the apartment but that D was advised to get rid of it. Statements were given later by the informant and they were quite contradictory. D was arrested and police found the gun used to kill Dye, ammunition for the gun, a spent cartridge in the gun and various cans of cat and dog food Dye typically purchased. After searching the rubbish, Dye's purse, identification, and other personal belongings were found. Fingerprints were found on a small piece of paper but they were absent from all the other evidence and unidentified fingerprints were not checked against those of the informant. D was tried for murder and a motion for disclosure was made by D, and the State indicated that such evidence did not exist. D's defense was that the informant had committed the crime and planted the evidence on D. The first trial in 1984 ended in a hung jury and D was tried again. The informant was interviewed again, and again his story changed, but none of these notes were given D. D was tried again and was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The informant got $1,600 in reward money. D eventually filed a petition for habeas corpus which was denied. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed.