A Third Circuit panel today affirmed a grant of habeas corpus relief in Bridges v. Secretary, No. 13-9000 and 13-9001. Bridges was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death for a 1996 killing in Reading, PA. The opinion is non-precedential.

Relief was based on the prosecution’s suppression of exculpatory police reports impeaching a key prosecution witness. The state had argued that the suppressed reports weren’t material because they were inadmissible and didn’t prove what the petitioner argued. The panel also ruled that the Brady claim was not adjudicated on the merits when the state court mistakenly stated that the claim had previously been denied.

The opinion author was Shwartz, joined by McKee and Fuentes. The petitioner was represented by the MDPA FPD.