Prosecutors insist they have made available all exculpatory material, as required, and that nothing alters Mr. Nichols's guilt.

"It is very disturbing that we are here, in trial, after openings, and all of a sudden this clearly exculpatory material is provided to us," he said.

Mr. Hyde approved the trip to assuage Democrats who say they want to see whether exculpatory material was kept behind.

She concluded that manipulation of evidence and failure to disclose exculpatory materials pervaded the law enforcement investigation and the evidence at trial.

Whether the government must disclose exculpatory material during plea bargaining is an open question.

But his conclusions - based on evidence presented without exculpatory material or cross-examination - lack the fairness our system demands.

But the Republicans backed away from barring their release to avoid giving the Democrats another opening to charge that exculpatory materials were being withheld.

It is as if the politicians were in a desperate race to dispatch the condemned before any exculpatory material could be brought to light.

The district court erroneously denied their discovery request for exculpatory material.

Under the Brady rules, all exculpatory material had to be turned over to the defense.