Robinson

Reggie Robinson (appellant) was charged with and convicted (by jury) of arson. (Pen. Code, § 451, subd. (b).) We reverse the judgment because the district attorney withheld exculpatory evidence (Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83, 87 [ 10 L.Ed.2d 215, 218 , 83 S.Ct. 1194 ]; § 1054.1, subd. (e)) and committed misconduct, and the trial court erroneously excluded defense evidence.

Factual Background

In our Discussion we provide additional factual detail. A simple summary suffices here.

On July 31, 1993, at 4 a.m., Jose Arellano and his family of eight were asleep in their house at 4063 S. San Pedro Street in Los Angeles when the front of their house started burning. They all escaped by the back door.

Arson investigator Jorge Aquin, a Los Angeles City Fire Department officer for 16 years and an arson investigator for 5, arrived at the scene an hour later and immediately began his investigation. He determined the origin of the fire to be the front porch and the source, a gasoline accelerant. He interviewed several witnesses and made handwritten, contemporaneous notes of their names, addresses, if any, and statements. Among the witnesses he interviewed were Raymond Dukes,…