Joseph Shelton v. John Marshall

Joseph Shelton, who is serving 40 years to life for the brutal kidnapping and murder of Kevin Thorpe and Laura Craig in 1981, appeals from the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. We hold that the prosecution’s suppression of a material part of its deal with a key witness, Norman Thomas, violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 , 83 S.Ct. 1194 , 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), with respect to Shelton’s conviction for the first-degree murder of Thorpe and order the writ granted as to that conviction. Thomas’s testimony was central to the prosecution’s case that Shelton premeditated and deliberated regarding Thorpe’s murder, and there is accordingly a reasonable probability that had the jury known of the prosecution’s serious doubts as to Thomas’s mental competence and of its successful efforts , to prevent him from obtaining a competency test until after he testified, it would have reached a different result on that count. We conclude, however, in a memorandum disposition filed along with this opinion that, had Thomas been impeached by evidence of the secret deal with the prosecution regarding his competency, there is not a reasonable probability that the jury would…