"54)
On November 21, 2000, at a pre-trial hearing, the court further instructed the State to inform Thomas’s counsel “of any deals that might have been made or consideration given in exchange for any testimony, anything of that sort.” State Pre-Trial Tr. (11/21/00) at 16. Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols responded that Thomas’s counsel had access to open-file discovery.
See id
. at 16-17;
see also id
. at 15, 21-22, 28, 32-34 (discussing “open file discovery” for the purposes of
Brady
material). 55)
Thomas’s counsel reasonably relied on the prosecution’s word, telling the court that “any [
Brady
]
information they have I’m of the belief that -- that we now have.”
Id
. at 22;
see
Declaration of Michael E. Scholl ¶¶ 4, 6, attached hereto as Ex. 6"
56)
Yet despite the State’s repeated assurances that Thomas’s counsel would receive any exculpatory or impeachment evidence, the State withheld evidence of the payment that was made to Angela Jackson in connection with her prior testimony.
8
57)
At trial, Angela Jackson was asked during direct and cross-examination whether she received any rewards or deals in exchange for her testimony.
See
State Trial Tr. at 648, 680, attached hereto as Ex. 7. Both times, she testified that she did not receive either a reward or deal in exchange for her testimony against Thomas, or for her cooperation with the investigation more generally.
9
See id
59)
The fact of this payment was only first learned by Thomas in October 2011 during an evidentiary hearing in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in connection with Thomas’s habeas corpus petition for relief from his federal sentence. At that hearing, U.S. Marshal Sanders, lead investigator of the shooting and robbery of Day, publicly acknowledged for the first time that he had personally given Angela Jackson a $750.00 FBI-funded payment in connection with her testimony against Thomas at his federal trial"
