Opinion ID: 1941338
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Motions for Continuance and Discovery

Text: Finally, the defendant contends that the trial court erred when it denied his request for a continuance and initially denied without prejudice his motion for additional discovery about the informant. The trial court has broad discretion in managing the proceedings before it, In the Matter of Conner & Conner, 156 N.H. 250, 252, 931 A.2d 1252, 1254 (2007), including pre-trial discovery, State v. Emery, 152 N.H. 783, 789, 887 A.2d 123 (2005). We will disturb decisions about pre-trial discovery and motions to continue only if the defendant demonstrates that the decision was clearly unreasonable to the prejudice of his case. See State v. Jaroma, 137 N.H. 562, 571-72, 630 A.2d 1173 (1993); Emery, 152 N.H. at 789, 887 A.2d 123. We conclude that the denials of his request for a continuance and his motion for more discovery were not unsustainable exercises of discretion. The record reveals that one week before trial, the trial court granted the defendant's request to proceed pro se and to retain his attorney as stand-by counsel. At the hearing on this request, the defendant asked for a one-month continuance so that he could review courtroom procedures and file certain discovery motions. The trial court denied the request for a continuance because the defendant had a week before the trial to prepare, almost all of the motions for discovery that he had filed lacked merit, and his attorney was still available to assist him as stand-by counsel. We hold that this was not an unsustainable exercise of discretion. With respect to his motion for additional discovery about the informant, the record shows that once the State opened the door to her testimony, the trial court granted the defendant's request for discovery and gave him time to review it before any questioning. Given this record, the defendant has failed to demonstrate that the trial court's initial denial without prejudice of his motion for additional discovery constituted an unsustainable exercise of discretion. Although on appeal, the defendant contends that by denying his request for a continuance and motion for additional discovery, the trial court deprived him of due process, he has failed to demonstrate that he preserved this argument for our review. We therefore decline to consider it. See Petition of State of N.H. ( State v. San Giovanni), 154 N.H. 671, 677, 919 A.2d 762 (2007). Affirmed.