Opinion ID: 1165055
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disclosure of the Confidential Informer

Text: The trial judge found that the defendant failed to show that the disclosure of the identity of the confidential informer was vital to the preparation of his defense. We agree with the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion for disclosure. The balancing test applied in Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957) was adopted by this Court in People v. Korte, Colo., 602 P.2d 2 (1979): When determining whether the identity of a confidential informant should be disclosed, the trial court must balance the needs of law enforcement officials to preserve the anonymity of the informant with the defendant's right to obtain evidence necessary for the preparation of his defense. People v. Marquez, 190 Colo. 255, 546 P.2d 482 (1976). There is no `fixed rule' that may be applied with respect to disclosure; rather, each case must turn on its own facts. See Roviaro v. United States, 353 U.S. 53, 77 S.Ct. 623, 1 L.Ed.2d 639 (1957). Thus, the determination is one that lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. Id. at 3. Here, the defendant argues that in order to rebut the inference allowed as to his specific intent to induce or aid another to unlawfully use or possess a narcotic drug, his counsel should have been granted the right to interview the informant. The trial judge excluded all testimony concerning transactions that may have occurred inside the bar. Evidence relating to the alleged telephone call by the informant to the surveilling officer conveying the defendant's offer to sell him heroin was also excluded. The trial court held, however, that because the informant was not an eyewitness to the events which occurred outside the bar during the surveillance, the defendant had not shown a need for disclosure of the informant's identity. In People v. Marquez, 190 Colo. 255, 546 P.2d 482 (1976), we listed some factors which must be considered in the balancing process mandated by Roviaro v. United States, supra : [W]hether the informant was an eyewitness and earwitness to the criminal transaction and whether the informer himself is available or could, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, be made available; whether other witnesses to the transaction are in a position to testify; the likelihood that the testimony of the informer will vary significantly from that of other available or potentially available witnesses; whether the defendant himself knows the identity of the informant or could without undue effort discover his identity; whether the informant was deeply or only peripherally involved in the criminal transaction. Id., 190 Colo. at 258-9, 546 P.2d 482. Here the transactions within the bar were not admitted as evidence. Additionally, the defendant has not shown that any of the other factors outlined in People v. Marquez, supra , mandate disclosure. Accordingly, the identity of the informant was properly withheld under the circumstances of this case.