Opinion ID: 492372
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Untimely Disclosure of the Police Report

Text: 11 During the course of trial, officer DeSetto, called by the State, testified on direct-examination that in his second series of shots into Payne's apartment he aimed four shots at Payne and Canton as they attempted to escape out of the window and two at Belgrave, who was behind the bed. Before beginning her cross-examination, defense counsel requested that the prosecution turn over any reports prepared by DeSetto relating to the shooting, as well as all material under People v. Rosario, 9 N.Y.2d 286, 213 N.Y.S.2d 448, 173 N.E.2d 881 (1961). In Rosario, the Court of Appeals held that the prosecution was required to turn over its witness' prior statements following direct examination so that they may be used by the defense for impeachment purposes in cross-examination. People v. Poole, 48 N.Y.2d 144, 148, 422 N.Y.S.2d 5, 7, 397 N.E.2d 697, 699 (1979). 2 12 Complying with the request, the prosecution provided defense counsel, inter alia, with copies of DeSetto's grand jury testimony and a written statement DeSetto had given to an assistant district attorney. Using these materials, Payne's counsel elicited on cross-examination that DeSetto had not specifically mentioned firing these last two shots at Belgrave either when he was interviewed by an assistant district attorney or when he testified before the grand jury. 13 The prosecution failed, at that time, to turn over a report prepared by detective Walter Clark of an interview which he had conducted with DeSetto shortly after the incident. The report was disclosed only after Clark, who had conducted an investigation of the incident, had completed his direct testimony for the State and Payne's counsel had made a similar Rosario request with respect to his testimony. Clark's report recorded DeSetto's statement that he fired his partner's revolver six times at two male blacks fleeing out the window. When defense counsel attempted to ask Clark about the contents of his report, however, the trial court sustained the prosecution's objection to such questions on hearsay grounds and foreclosed defense counsel from examining Clark about the report despite counsel's protestations that the prosecutor had failed to disclose the report while DeSetto had been on the stand, as she had requested. Choosing neither to proffer the report under any of the hearsay exceptions nor to recall DeSetto to question him about it, Payne's counsel then dropped the matter.