NCJ Number
129372
Date Published
1991
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This chapter presents legal principles and court cases pertinent to pretrial discovery and disclosure by both the prosecution and defense.
Abstract
Discovery and disclosure pertain to the rights of the parties in criminal litigation to notice concerning the theories or evidence that will be used by their opponents and to access to statements and physical evidence in the possession of those opponents. An introductory discussion of issues under modern discovery provisions addresses types of discovery, implementation, the work-product exception, sanctions, and informal practice. Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is presented to show the types of information subject to disclosure by both the prosecution and defense. Regarding prosecutorial constitutional obligations of discovery addressed in United States v. Bagley (1985), the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a court of appeals decision that the prosecution's failure to provide the defense requested information on two prosecution witnesses required an automatic reversal. The Supreme Court remanded the case to that court for a determination of whether there is a reasonable probability that, had the defense received the information at issue, the trial result would have been different. People v. Bassett (1974), heard by the Supreme Court of Illinois, concerned defense access to the prior statements of prosecution witnesses. The court held that white cards used by the prosecution in discussing a prospective witness' testimony before trial should have been made available to the defense. In United States v. Nobels (1975), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the appellate court erred in concluding that the fifth amendment prohibited the disclosure condition imposed in this case; since the information sought by the prosecution pertained to the testimony or statements of third party witnesses, the court ruled that no self-incrimination issues were involved. Case notes are provided.