Opinion ID: 1427690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Gale's Motion to Dismiss for Failure to Preserve Evidence

Text: This issue involves Gale's assertion that the initial police interviews with the victims must have contained information that would potentially aid him in his defense. Gale does not argue that he was denied access to the interviewer's notes or that the trial court denied him the right to cross-examine any of the state's witnesses whose testimony could be traced to the initial victim interviews; he also forgoes any suggestion that the police or the state acted in bad faith concerning the content of the interviews. Instead, Gale argues that the lack of such recordings somehow deprived him of his best opportunity to judge what the victim's precise allegations and explanations for their allegations were when they were first uttered. Gale says this deprivation violates the holding in Trombetta, which he asserts stands for the legal proposition that the police have an affirmative constitutional duty to gather and preserve evidence, as well as the recognized duty to disclose exculpatory evidence. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S.Ct. at 1196-97, 10 L.Ed.2d at 218. We disagree with Gale's interpretation of the law on this issue. This court held that the state does not have a constitutional duty to manufacture evidence in addition to its duty under Brady to disclose exculpatory evidence in its possession. We also specifically held that a deputy's apparent negligence in not properly tape recording a conversation between the defendant and the deputy did not violate the defendant's rights to due process of law. Wilde, 706 P.2d at 255 (citing Trombetta, 467 U.S. at 488-91, 104 S.Ct. at 2529-30, 81 L.Ed.2d at 421-24). Here, the trial court's ruling paralleled our conclusions in Wilde. Gale's assertion would expose the state to the risk of automatic dismissal for failure to tape record every initial interview it conducts with a minor victim alleging sexual assault. The state has a duty to preserve evidence only if the disputed evidence is shown to have been constitutionally material because it possessed known exculpatory value and if the defendant could not obtain comparable evidence using other reasonable means. Wilde, 706 P.2d at 255 (citing Trombetta, 467 U.S. at 479-80, 104 S.Ct. at 2529, 81 L.Ed.2d at 416-17). Wilde and Trombetta plainly limit the state's duties to preserve and disclose evidence to those duties explained in Brady. We also note the United States Supreme Court's recent opinion in Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988). In Youngblood, the defendant was charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor. When the victim reported the crime, a physician used a sexual assault kit to take samples from the victim that might later be used as evidence at trial. The police took these samples and the victim's clothing, but they did not refrigerate the clothing. Later, when the state criminologist tried to compare samples from the kit with stains he found on the clothing, the failure to refrigerate the clothing made the comparison impossible. Evidence from such a comparison could have exonerated the defendant who was convicted. The state appellate court reversed the conviction focusing on the potential which the lost evidence had for exoneration and the Court granted the state's petition for certiorari. In its opinion, the Court discussed the constitutional standards for the obligation the police have to preserve evidence and then held that unless a criminal defendant can show bad faith on the part of the police, [negligent] failure to preserve potentially useful evidence does not constitute a denial of due process of law. Youngblood, 488 U.S. at ___, 109 S.Ct. at 337, 102 L.Ed.2d at 289. Gale had access to the interviewer's notes and an extensive opportunity to cross-examine the interviewer and the victims; he has never alleged police bad faith. Due process was satisfied in this regard. Affirmed on all issues. THOMAS, J., files a specially concurring opinion in which CARDINE, C.J., joins. URBIGKIT, J., files a dissenting opinion.