In Re Pratt

Opinion

MASTERSON, J.

At the conclusion of an evidentiary hearing, an able and experienced trial judge, applying well-established legal principles, granted Elmer Gerard Pratt’s petition for writ of habeas corpus. The basis for the ruling was that, under Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83 [83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215], Pratt had been deprived of evidence at his 1972 murder trial that would have “permitted potentially devastating cross-examination or other impeachment evidence” regarding prosecution witness Julius Butler, and that this deprivation undermined confidence in the verdict. On the…