Opinion ID: 2264062
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 24

Heading: Ayers's Convictions

Text: The next alleged error centers on the state's failure, in the process of giving defendant the results of Ayers's criminal history checks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the National Criminal Information Center databases, to disclose three more of Ayers's convictions. [11] The criminal background check, conducted by the state and disclosed to defendant, documented thirty-four contacts between Ayers and law enforcement. Applying the law of Rule 16, the trial justice found in her written decision that while the state failed to disclose the three additional convictions, the extent of prejudice to defendant was so minimal that a new trial was not warranted. Although that determination is subject to our review, [w]ithout question, the trial justice is in the best position to determine whether any harm has resulted from noncompliance with discovery motions and whether the harm can be mitigated; therefore, his [or her] ruling should not be overturned absent a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Coelho, 454 A.2d 241, 244-45 (R.I.1982). We are in complete agreement with the trial justice's finding that if the high number of Ayers's criminal convictions was insufficient to convince a jury that it should disbelieve his testimony, then three additional convictions would not have changed the minds of the jurors. Put differently, this impeachment evidence is merely cumulative. We hold that the state's failure to disclose three of Ayers's criminal convictions in violation of Rule 16 does not constitute reversible error in this instance. This failure similarly does not constitute a violation of Brady. Although defendant could have impeached Ayers's credibility further with the additional convictions, the fact that defendant did, in fact, impeach Ayers with the numerous convictions that were disclosed only warrants the conclusion that the additional convictions would not have resulted in defendant's acquittal. Thus, the trial justice properly concluded that they were not material under Brady. 4