ANTHONY ANTONE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. | 1978-02-16
No. 50240
OVERTON, C. J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG, HATCHETT and KARL, JJ., concur., ADKINS, J., dissents.
355 So. 2d 777 Florida Supreme Court (1978) Caution
Cited by 28 cases

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Synopsis

Anthony Antone was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. On appeal, newly discovered information revealed that the State paid substantial fees to the attorneys of the State's principal witness (a co-defendant who pleaded guilty), which had not been disclosed during discovery. The Florida Supreme Court remanded the case to determine whether this constituted a Brady violation warranting a new trial.


Holding

The Court held that the State has an affirmative duty under Brady v. Maryland to disclose materially favorable evidence to the accused. The Court remanded the case to the trial court to determine: (1) whether the information concerning fee payments to Haskew's attorneys is accurate, and (2) if so, whether such information is materially favorable to Antone's defense under the materiality standards set forth in United States v. Agurs, warranting a new trial.


Headnotes

[1] A prosecutor's duty to disclose materially favorable evidence to the accused includes evidence that impeaches a witness's credibility.

[2] The prosecution's duty to disclose under Brady v. …

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Key Quotes

“It is now clear that Brady imposes an affirmative duty on the prosecution to produce at the appropriate time requested evidence which is materially favorable to the accused either as direct or impeaching evidence.”

Establishes the foundational Brady obligation that the prosecution must affirmatively disclose materially favorable evidence.

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Facts & Procedural History

Anthony Antone was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Ellis Marlowe Haskew, a co-defendant, negotiated a plea deal and became th…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Anthony Antone was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by the trial judge. He appealed his conviction to us pursuant to Article V, Section 3(b)(1), Florida Constitution, and Section 921.141(4), Florida Statutes (1975).

Subsequent to the filing of this appeal, the prosecuting attorney filed a motion to supplement the record with information which had not previously been revealed either to him or to the defendant. The substance of the information is that the Florida Department of Criminal Law Enforcement apparently paid substantial fees to the attorneys for Ellis Marlowe Haskew, a co-defendant who negotiated a plea and became the State’s principal witness against Antone. In light of this new information, Antone has requested that we remand the case to the trial court for a determination as to whether a new trial should be granted.

Antone contends that the State’s failure to reveal the information during the course of pre-trial discovery constitutes a violation of the continuing duty to disclose imposed by Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220(f), and that the withholding of this information from the defendant resulted in a denial of due process under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and its progeny. Antone asserts that the newly-discovered facts explain Haskew’s interest in testifying against Antone, that they bear on the issue of Haskew’s credibility since they refute Haskew’s statements to the jury that he received nothing from the State other than the benefit of his negotiated plea, and that they are so “materially favorable” to Antone’s case that a revelation of those facts might have led to a different result at his trial.

In Williams v. Dutton, 400 F. 2d 797, 800 (5th Cir. 1968), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said:

“It is now clear that Brady imposes an affirmative duty on the prosecution to produce at the appropriate time requested evidence which is materially favorable to the accused either as direct or impeaching evidence.”

The record shows that defense counsel assiduously sought all relevant data from the State concerning Haskew’s bargain, that this bargain was brought out before the jury in an endeavor to discredit Haskew’s testimony, and that Haskew’s credibility was a dominant issue, if not the dominant issue for the defense, in Antone’s trial. The record also shows that the case against Antone was developed in large part through efforts of the Department of Criminal Law Enforcement, and that officers of that department directly participated in the prosecution. If the alleged fee payments were in fact made to Haskew’s attorneys, then even though the prosecuting attorney was not aware of that fact, the Department was. Just as there is no distinction between different prosecutorial offices within the executive branch of the United States government for purposes of a Brady violation,1 there is no distinction between corresponding departments of the executive branch of Florida’s government for the same purpose.

It is necessary to ascertain whether the information concerning fees for Haskew’s attorneys is accurate, and, if so, whether a Brady violation occurred in this case that is sufficient to warrant a new trial for Antone. In considering the latter issue, the trial court should be guided by materiality standards defined by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 392 (1976).

This case is remanded to the trial court for the purpose of determining whether there is a factual basis for the information allegedly withheld by the State, and, if so, whether it is so “materially favorable” to Antone’s defense as to require that a new trial be granted, In view of the fact that the alleged Brady violation may necessitate a new trial, it would be pointless for us to pass upon the merits of Antone’s appeal at this time.

It is so ordered.

OVERTON, C. J., and BOYD, ENGLAND, SUNDBERG, HATCHETT and KARL, JJ., concur. ADKINS, J., dissents.

. Giglio v. United States, 405 U.S. 150, 92 S.Ct. 763, 31 L.Ed.2d 104 (1972).


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Citator

Cited By (14 total)

  • Antone v. State, 382 So. 2d 1205 (Fla. 1980)
    …y filed a motion to supplement the record which advised this Court that the FDCLE had paid substantial fees to attorneys for Ellis Marlow Haskew and that such information had not been previously known to the prosecuting attorney. In Antone v. State, 355 So. 2d 777 (Fla.1978), [*1211] we remanded this cause to the trial court for a determination of whether a violation prohibited by Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), had occurred and whether a new trial should be granted. We a…
    1 / 2
  • Tafero v. State, 403 So. 2d 355 (Fla. 1981)
    …inquiry.3 He found no prejudicial violation for the late giving of this witness’s name. At most, any violation by the state was trivial, as was the testimony of Haskew. This is the significant difference between the instant case and Antone v. State, 355 So. 2d 777 (Fla.1978), conviction aff’d. on later appeal, 382 So. 2d 1205 (Fla.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 913, 101 S.Ct. 287, 66 L.Ed.2d 141 (1980), in which a major thrust of the state’s case was based on Haskew’s testimony. Likewise, any alleged failure by th…
  • LEE v. State, 538 So. 2d 63 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989)
    …indings either to the police or to the state attorney, the state is charged with constructive knowledge and possession of evidence held by other departments of the executive branch of Florida’s government for discovery purposes. See Antone v. State, 355 So. 2d 777 (Fla.1978); Robinson; State v. Alfonso, 478 So. 2d 1119 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), review denied, 491 So. 2d 280 (Fla.1986). Therefore, possession of the test results by the FDLE is imputed to the state attorney, who had a duty to disclose them prior to t…

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