whether-due-process-prohibits-superior-court-from-rejecting-inferior-court's-fact-findings-based-on-credibility

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Petitioner sought state habeas corpus relief from his murder conviction based on prosecutorial misconduct in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The state trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing with live testimony, made fact findings and legal conclusions, and recommended a new trial or sentencing hearing. Yet, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) rejected the trial court’s fact findings in toto even though many turned on assessments of witness credibility and demeanor and others were uncontroverted. The TCCA substituted its own implicit fact findings based on a cold record and denied relief in a perfunctory order. This Court has cautioned that a superior court’s rejection of an inferior court’s favorable dispositive fact findings based on witness credibility and substitution of its own unfavorable findings based on a cold record would “give rise to serious [constitutional] questions.” United States v. Raddatz, 447 USS. 667, 681 n.7 (1980). The questions presented are: I. Whether it violates due process for a superior court to substitute its own unfavorable fact findings based on a cold record for an inferior court’s favorable dispositive fact findings that were based on witness credibility and demeanor. II. Whether the TCCA’s one-sentence, summary materiality analysis misapplied this Court’s Brady v. Maryland jurisprudence in view of the evidence that six li QUESTIONS PRESENTED—Continued undisclosed police reports demonstrating the complainant’s recent history of violence and suicidal ideation were material to petitioner’s conviction and sentence. iii RELATED CASES e State v. Connors, No. 937946, 339th District Court of Harris County, Texas. Judgment entered January 28, 2005. e Connors v. State, No. 14-05-00126-CR, Fourteenth Court of Appeals of Texas. Judgment entered August 10, 2006. ¢ Connors v. State, No. PD-1847-06, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Order entered February 7, 2007. e Ex parte Connors, No. 937946-A, 339th District Court of Harris County, Texas. Order entered April 11, 2011. e Ex parte Connors, No. WR-73,203-02, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Order entered September 14, 2011. e Ex parte Connors, No. 937946-B, 339th District Court of Harris County, Texas. Order entered May 22, 2019. e Ex parte Connors, No. WR-73,203-03, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Order entered April 1, 2020.