The court of appeals affirmed a judgment of the district court in part, reversed in part, and remanded. The court held that new evidence of psychological testing of a key prosecution witness obtained in discovery in a federal habeas proceeding entitled a prisoner to an opportunity to present a Brady v. Maryland claim based on that evidence to the state high court.
Jesse Gonzalez was tried in California state court and convicted of first degree murder for the shooting by shotgun of a deputy sheriff who was executing a search warrant for narcotics through a “knock and announce” procedure. The jury returned a finding of the special circumstance of killing a law enforcement officer engaged in the lawful pursuit of his duties. The trial court sentenced Gonzalez to death.
