Opinion ID: 2511832
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: The defendant was able to retain an expert

Text: ¶ 25 The majority says that the defendant was unable to obtain an expert to examine the hard drives. The record does not support this conclusion. At the time that the defense moved to compel discovery in July 2003, an expert from Spokane had been hired to assist the defense, Ramona Lawson of Global CompuSearch. But early in September 2003, at a hearing on a motion for a continuance, defense counsel explained that Ms. Lawson declined to continue as the defense expert. The judge at this hearing was provided various explanations, including that the expert was unwilling to provide the required blank drives (and thus discovery could not go forward under the orders) because she was uncertain of being reimbursed for them (State's explanation based on conversation with defense investigator), that matters of time and distance were problems given her location in Spokane, and that she refused to work under the conditions of the protective order (defense counsel's explanation). These explanations were not, as the trial judge observed, supported by any declaration from the expert herself but rather were only secondhand statements as to what the potential problem is. Verbatim Tr. of Proceedings at 13 (Sept. 2, 2003). On March 26, 2003, [1] when the defense motion to reconsider the discovery orders was heard, defense counsel again represented to the court that Lawson declined to work on the case given the restrictions in the order. Again, there is no suggestion that any declaration to this effect from Ms. Lawson was filed. Thus, at the end of the day, the record does not tell us why Ms. Lawson declined to continue as a defense expert. [2] ¶ 26 The only other expert that this record shows that the defense contacted is Robert Apgood.