Folino v. Johnson

(1) Whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and other courts of appeals which have interpreted the materiality standard of Brady v. Maryland to include evidence inadmissible at trial if such material could have led to the discovery of admissible evidence have expanded the scope of Brady in a manner contrary to Wood v. Bartholomew, and, in so doing, have substituted mere admissibility for the requirement that to be "material" undisclosed evidence must present a "reasonable probability" that the result of the trial would have been different had the evidence been disclosed, and in a manner which, in the instant case, would have required the prosecution to search the entire universe of police reports to find those reports which referenced, but did not charge, a prosecution witness; (2) whether the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, by directing the district court to evaluate Johnson's claim "in light of the Third Circuit opinion," has required the district court to accept characterizations of the allegedly suppressed evidence which in some instances are contrary to this Court's teachings, such as the weight to be given affidavits solicited by habeas counsel long after the verdict was obtained, and which, in other instances, are factually inaccurate.