022419P.pdf   05/17/2004  Richard D. Clay  v.  Michael Bowersox
   U.S. Court of Appeals Case No:  02-2419
                          and No:  02-2522
   Western District of Missouri   
   Prisoner case - habeas. District court erred in concluding the guilt 
   phase of Clay's death penalty trial was tainted by Brady violations, and 
   the district court's grant of habeas relief is reversed and Clay's death 
   sentence is reinstated; any undisclosed information about a witness's plea 
   agreement was immaterial, and the affidavit the witness supplied in 
   support of Clay's habeas petition was not inconsistent with his trial 
   testimony and did not amount to a recantation of his trial testimony; with 
   respect to claim that government failed to disclose the existence of three 
   witnesses, there was no showing the prosecution knew of the witnesses or 
   had any basis to believe they may have had exculpatory evidence; further, 
   Clay did know of these witnesses at the time of his post-conviction claim, 
   and his failure to build an adequate record about them is fatal to his 
   claim, in any event, Clay has not shown either Brady materiality or 
   Strickland prejudice regarding the testimony; Brady issue regarding 
   disclosure of footprint evidence was procedurally barred and not properly 
   supported; other claims of trial error - inconsistent prosecution theories, 
   instructional error, failure to conduct a proportionality review and 
   ineffective assistance of counsel during the post-conviction proceeding - 
   rejected. 
   [PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author]