Opinion ID: 1312684
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The State's Handling of Footprint Evidence.

Text: Defendant asserts that he did not receive a fair trial because the State did not preserve evidence of a large number of footprints present near the area where Brown's body was discovered. This omission, defendant claims, denied him the opportunity to eliminate himself as a suspect by showing that none of these footprints were his. He also asserts that he was prejudiced by the State not producing scaled photographs of some of the footprints in response to the court's order to produce relevant evidence. With respect to the first of these contentions, defendant concedes that more than 100 footprints were found in the area. To assume that all of these could have been preserved is not realistic. The present record is simply inadequate to allow us to judge the reasonableness of the State's decision to photograph some, but not all, of these footprints. With respect to defendant's second contention, we agree that the court's order to produce was violated. The prosecutor produced those photographs in his possession but not additional photographs in the custody of the Department of Criminal Investigation. It was the latter photographs that included the scaled depictions of the footprints, i.e., photographs with a ruler laid beside the imprint. The State was required to produce all photographs responsive to the court's order regardless of which state agency was responsible for their custody. Notwithstanding the fact that the court's order was violated, defendant has not established a basis for reversing his conviction as a result of that violation. He discovered the existence of the photographs during the trial and had an opportunity to examine them. Having done so, he did not move for a mistrial based on violation of the order to produce nor did he move for a continuance in order to utilize these photographs as effectively as the circumstances would permit. We therefore have nothing to review in the nature of an improper trial court ruling. State v. Holbrook, 261 N.W.2d 480, 482 (Iowa 1978) (appellate court cannot review an issue unless it was raised in the trial court). Although defendant perhaps did not have time during the trial to examine the photographs in sufficient detail to evaluate their exculpatory effect, if any, there is no reason to assume that he did not have time to do this prior to the time that he filed his motion for new trial in the district court. Defendant made no evidentiary showing in his motion for new trial to establish prejudice based on any matter that these photographs revealed. Absent any showing of prejudice, there is no basis upon which to predicate a reversal of the conviction.