Banks v. Dretke

Petitioner Delma Banks, Jr., was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Prior to trial, the State advised *675Banks’s attorney there would be no need to litigate discovery issues, representing: “[W]e will, without the necessity of motions[,] provide you with all discovery to which you are entitled.” App. 361, n. 1; App. to Pet. for Cert. A4 (both sources’ internal quotation marks omitted). Despite that undertaking, the State withheld evidence that would have allowed Banks to discredit two essential prosecution witnesses. The State did not disclose that one of those witnesses was a…