Search

Miguel Vega v. Commissioner of Correction — Brady Disclosure

The Connecticut Supreme Court in Miguel Vega v. Commissioner of Correction affirmed the Appellate Court's judgment on an alternative basis, holding that while a prosecutor's duty under Brady extends to exculpatory information known to other prosecutors in the same state's attorney's office, the failure to disclose a witness's prior false testimony was immaterial because there was no reasonable probability it would have changed the outcome of Vega's murder trial. The court reversed the Appellate Court's rationale that the prosecutor had no responsibility to search unrelated case files absent a specific defense request. Argued October 29, 2025—officially released April 21, 2026.

Suppah Personal Restraint Petition Denied, Murder Convictions Upheld

The Washington Court of Appeals, Division II denied John Francis Jude Suppah's personal restraint petition challenging his convictions for second degree murder, drive-by shooting, second degree unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, and two counts of witness tampering stemming from the December 2015 shooting death of Preston Stafford in Tacoma. The court rejected all three grounds for relief: that the State violated his fair trial rights by presenting false testimony regarding witness benefits, that the State violated Brady v. Maryland by failing to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence about witness benefits, and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when trial counsel failed to discover this evidence.