Opinion ID: 2054126
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Sanborn's motions to dismiss the indictment

Text: Rossi testified, at the bind-over hearing, that Sanborn confessed to the murder. Unfortunately, a prior inconsistent statement, made during an interview with Florida police detectives, was not disclosed to Sanborn's attorney until more than one year after the bind-over hearing, six months after the grand jury indictment, and eight months before the trial. The Superior Court found that the late disclosure was due to a good faith mistake by Portland Police detectives who were unaware of the existence in their files of the inconsistent statement made by Rossi to Florida detectives. Once the State became aware of the statement, it was turned over to Sanborn's attorney. After receiving the transcript, Sanborn filed a motion to dismiss the indictment for grand jury error and bind-over error, and a motion for sanctions. Although the trial court found a discovery violation, it denied Sanborn's motions. Sanborn argues that the trial court erred in concluding that the discovery violation did not deny him his rights, under the Maine and United States constitutions, to due process of law, effective assistance of counsel, and the right to confront witnesses. Although the State argues that no technical violation of M.R.Crim.P. 16 occurred, [4] it concedes that the spirit of the rule was violated. Assuming a discovery violation, the State then argues that the trial court had broad discretion under M.R.Crim.P. 16(d) to choose an appropriate sanction and that, in this case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in choosing not to levy a sanction. Additionally, the State argues that Sanborn was not prejudiced since he had the transcript eight months before trial and was able to and did cross-examine Rossi with the statement at trial. M.R.Crim.P. 16(a) and (d) provide for automatic discovery and the sanctions available for violations of such discovery. [5] Rule 16(a) requires a diligent inquiry by prosecutors to discover whether automatically discoverable information exists. The failure to comply with Rule 16(a) may result in the trial court's excluding the specified evidence. Unless a defendant has demonstrated that he was in fact prejudiced by the discovery violation despite the court's effort to nullify or minimize the consequences and that the prejudice rose to the level of depriving him of a fair trial, a trial court's decision not to impose sanctions for discovery violations cannot be characterized as either an abuse of discretion or an error of law. State v. Leavitt, 625 A.2d 302, 305 (Me.1993); State v. Corson, 572 A.2d 483, 486 (Me.1990). Assuming, without deciding, that a violation of M.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(1)(C) occurred, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in failing to impose a sanction. On the record before us, we find that Sanborn was neither prejudiced nor denied of a fair trial.