United States v. Agurs

Mr. Justice Marshall,

with whom Mr. Justice Brennan joins, dissenting.

The Court today holds that the prosecutor’s constitutional duty to provide exculpatory evidence to the defense is not limited to cases in which the defense makes a request for such evidence. But once having recognized the existence of a duty to volunteer exculpatory evidence, the Court so narrowly defines the category of “material” evidence embraced by the duty as to deprive it of all meaningful content.

In considering the appropriate standard of materiality governing the prosecutor’s obligation to volunteer exculpatory…