SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT DIRK GKEINEDER - Mass Cases

399 Mass. 17, 21 n.5 (1987). In Gallarelli, the Court
held that a request for all 'police reports and
scientific reports" was sufficient to cover relevant
laboratory reports. a. at 21-22. When the prosecutor
fails to turn over exculpatory information which had been
specifically requested, the court "must set aside the
verdict unless it is sure that the error 'did not
influence the jury or had but a very slight effect."'
'Commonwealth v. Lykus, 451 Mass. 310, 326 (2008)
4. Constitutional right to fair trial based
on reliable evidence.
A defendant's right to due process under the Fifth
and Fourteenth Amendments protects him from conviction
based on unreliable evidence. California v. Green, 399
U.S. 149, 188 n.20 (1970). That due process guarantee may
require a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence.
In Cooqan v. McCauqhtry, 958 F.2d 793, 801 (7th Cir.
1991), the court wrote:
In some situations newly-discovered evidence
is so compelling that it would be a violation
of the fundamental fairness embodied in the
Due Process Clause not to afford a defendant a
new trial at which the evidence could be
Considered.
In the recantation context, fundamental fairness may
require a new trial, even in the absence of bad faith.
United States v. Younq, 17 F.3d 1201,1203 (9th Cir. 1994) .
29