Named as respondents to the petition were the Lancaster County district attorney and the attorney general of Pennsylvania. Judge Dalzell denied the objection and moved forward with Lambert's case. This meant Lancaster County District Attorney Joseph C. Madenspacher had to turn over to Lambert's lawyer the entire police file of the Show murder investigation. It included all police reports and notes, articles of evidence, crime-scene photographs, witness statements and theories about who killed Show and how. Lambert's lawyer was permitted to take sworn statements from any or all of the prosecution's witnesses.
Civil matters have broad discovery rules, and a habeas corpus petition is a civil matter.
That was a big advantage for Rainville, one that Lambert's trial lawyer didn't have during her criminal trial. Discovery of evidence for defendants in state criminal proceedings is basically limited to eyewitness accounts and any evidence pointing away from the defendants. They give us the discoverable evidence. I never saw the entire file. Lambert's lawyers in her habeas corpus case had more information, Shirk said.