Gino Velez Scott v. United States

ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge:

Prosecutors are "servant[s] of the law" and should "prosecute with earnestness and vigor."

*1243 Berger v. United States , 295 U.S. 78 , 88, 55 S.Ct. 629 , 79 L.Ed. 1314 (1935). But though the prosecutor "may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones." Id.

More than fifty years ago, Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83 , 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194 , 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), established that a prosecutor's suppression of material evidence favorable to the accused amounts to a foul blow. An actionable Brady violation-where the government withholds evidence that reasonably…