United States v. Salem, No. 10-2204 (7th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of using a gun to intimidate a witness. 18 U.S.C. 1512, 924(c). Immediately before the sentencing hearing, the government produced statements placing that witness, the star witness against defendant, at the scene of a murder for which he was never charged. Defendant moved for a new trial, claiming a "Brady" violation in that the witness had a motive to tailor his testimony in the government’s favor. The district court denied the motion. The Seventh Circuit vacated. On remand, the court held a hearing and made findings concerning the belatedly disclosed evidence and concluded there was no reasonable probability that the outcome would have been different if the jury had been apprised of the murder evidence during trial. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The district court correctly found that evidence of additional sources of bias would have been cumulative of impeachment efforts and was immaterial for purposes of Brady. The evidence at issue was not significantly different from the other evidence used to impeach the witness, including charges of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, drug possession, distribution, and use of firearms in furtherance of drug endeavors.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.