For followers of the United States Supreme Court there is a unique feature of the SCOTUS blog: The Petition of the Day. Recently sighted was Chappell v. Phillips.

The issue in the case is whether the Ninth Circuit conflicted with the “reasonable likelihood” materiality standards of Napue v. Illinois and Brady v. Maryland by substituting a standard based on “any conceivable, speculative possibility” of a different result. The case involved a claim that  the prosecution’s failure to reveal that a key prosecution witness received significant benefits in exchange for her testimony after the witness falsely testified she had been promised no such benefits, coupled with the prosecutor’s false representation to the jury that there was no agreement promising such benefits, violated his due process rights. The 9th Circuit opinion is an interesting read to show a case where prosecutors failed to follow the mandate of Brady.