Opinion ID: 1533871
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Police Activity Sheets

Text: Appellant next claims that his defense was hampered by the failure of the Commonwealth to turn over police activity sheets because they contained evidence that police had another suspect for the crime. Brief of Appellant at 23. Appellant cites to Pa.R.Crim.P. 305B(1)(a), [22] which requires the Commonwealth to disclose any evidence that is material to either guilt or punishment, and Rule 305B(1)(f), which requires disclosure of, among other things, tangible objects. Appellant claims that the refusal of the Commonwealth to supply the actual activity sheets rises to the level of reversible error. The Commonwealth counters the argument of Appellant by pointing out that it did provide him with summaries of the activity sheets. Brief of the Commonwealth at 30. Additionally, the Commonwealth refutes the contention of Appellant that his attorney did not have the activity sheets by pointing out that counsel introduced a police activity sheet and an activity run log at the first trial. Id. The Commonwealth also observes that Appellant has failed to state which activity sheets he did or did not receive, how the police summaries that he did receive allegedly differed from the activity sheets that he supposedly did not receive, or discuss how he was prejudiced. Id. at 31. The standard for review of a decision of a trial court to deny a discovery request is one of abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Rucci, 543 Pa. 261, 670 A.2d 1129, 1140 (1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1121, 117 S.Ct. 1257, 137 L.Ed.2d 337 (1997). Appellant cannot show an abuse of discretion if he fails to show how he was prejudiced by the decision. Commonwealth v. Brown, 462 Pa. 578, 342 A.2d 84, 89 (1975). If the summaries included the same information as the original activity sheets, the purported lack of disclosure could not have prejudiced him. Additionally, the Commonwealth properly points out that Appellant had some police activity records in that he introduced them into evidence. N.T. 10/25/93 at 330 and 10/27/93 at 694-695. Appellant argues that he would have sought to show that the activity sheets would have showed that police, at one time, suspected that Mr. Felice committed the crimes, implying that the police now had the wrong person. Brief of Appellant at 23. However, at trial, Appellant presented the testimony of police witnesses who admitted that they had suspected Mr. Felice and had, in fact, followed him undercover for six months. N.T. 10/4/96 at 99-114. Additionally, in his closing argument Appellant's attorney argued that the composite sketch police had obtained of the person carrying the box was similar to Mr. Felice and not Appellant. N.T. 10/7/96 at 31-32. Because the Commonwealth did supply summaries of the activity sheets, it included at least some of the activity sheets, and because Appellant failed to explain how the summaries differed from the activity sheets or how he was prejudiced by not having the activity sheets themselves, we reject Appellant's claim of error.