Does failure to correct false testimony affecting a witness's credibility or disclose impeachment information fall into a narrow structural category that requires automatic reversal?

MultiRegion, United States of America

The following excerpt is from United States v. Harmon, 833 F.3d 1199 (9th Cir. 2016):

Neither the failure to: (1) correct false testimony affecting a witness's credibility nor (2) disclose impeachment information falls into this narrow structural category that requires automatic reversal. We previously held in United States v. Sitton , 968 F.2d 947, 954 (9th Cir. 1992), abrogated on other grounds by Koon v. United States , 518 U.S. 81, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996), that [p]resentation of perjured testimony to the grand jury is not such a structural flaw. We reasoned that [d]ismissal of the indictment is not appropriate when a witness' alleged perjury is not material to the defendant's indictment and instead affects only the witness' credibility. Id. at 953 (citation omitted). It was not structural because it is an error susceptible of quantitative assessment to determine its effect, and therefore suitable for harmless error analysis. Id. at 954.

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