Opinion ID: 2612692
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Heading Rank: 2

Heading: conditioning the right of compulsory process

Text: Reciprocal discovery statutes similar to ORS 135.835-135.865 have been enacted in most states. [4] Their purposes include these: To assure to both the state and the defendant the opportunity, in advance of trial, to be provided with the information required by these statutes so as to enable each party to prepare adequately for trial and to prevent `surprise' at the time of trial   ;    to avoid unnecessary trials, to expedite trials and to prevent the expense and delay of continuances when either party claims to be unprepared to go to trial because of failure by the other party to comply with these discovery statutes.   , State v. Dyson, 292 Or. 26, 35-36, 636 P.2d 961 (1981); and to promote pretrial resolution of criminal cases. See Westen, The Compulsory Process Clause, 73 Mich.L. Rev. 71, 138 (1974); Comment, The Preclusion Sanction  A Violation of the Constitutional Right to Present a Defense, 81 Yale L.J. 1342, 1356 (1972). Reciprocal discovery is a fairly recent development in the field of criminal law. Following the decisions in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), and Jencks v. United States, 353 U.S. 657, 77 S.Ct. 1007, 1 L.Ed.2d 1103 (1957), most states enacted reciprocal discovery statutes. Oregon's reciprocal discovery statutes were enacted in 1973. Or. Laws 1973, ch. 836, §§ 213-220. Discovery tends to equalize the investigative power of the parties. As a result, defendants are better able to defend, for to some extent they have the benefit of the vast power of the state in investigating crimes. Such statutes benefit the defendant in particular by tending to take away the edge the state enjoys by virtue of its powerful investigational resources. However, the legislature, in requiring the prosecution to make discovery under ORS 135.845, exacted a quid pro quo  discovery from the defendant under ORS 135.835  in default of which the trial judge could impose the sanction and refuse to permit the witness to testify. ORS 135.865. As stated, the fundamental right that the compulsory process clause aims to protect is the right to present a defense, the right to present the defendant's version of the facts as well as the prosecution's to the jury so it may decide where the truth lies. Washington v. Texas, supra, 388 U.S. at 19, 87 S.Ct. at 1923. The ultimate aim of the reciprocal discovery statutes is largely congruent with that goal in the sense that such statutes insure that both sides have access to all the facts so that the jury can best determine where the truth lies. As an abstract principle, it is doubtless permissible to establish reasonable procedures which must be followed in order to exercise a right guaranteed by the constitution. Poulos v. New Hampshire, 345 U.S. 395, 405, 73 S.Ct. 760, 766, 97 L.Ed. 1105 (1953); Carlile v. Continental Oil Company, 81 N.M. 484, 468 P.2d 885, 887 (1970); Annot., 64 A.L.R.2d 506, § 3, at 513 (1959). The procedures must not, however, result in unfairness. In Wardius v. Oregon, 412 U.S. 470, 93 S.Ct. 2208, 37 L.Ed.2d 82 (1973), the Supreme Court set aside the defendant's conviction because the Oregon notice-of-alibi statute then in effect (which required the defendant to notify the prosecution of the place the defendant claimed to be at the time in question, and of the names and addresses the defendant intended to call to prove the alibi) did not make provision for reciprocal discovery to the defendant, and this impaired the defendant's rights to a fair trial under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 412 U.S. at 472, 476, 93 S.Ct. at 2211, 2213. Compare Washington v. Texas, supra , in which the Supreme Court invalidated a Texas procedural statute providing that persons charged as principals, accomplices or accessories in the same crime could not be witnesses for each other because the statute interfered with a defendant's compulsory process rights to present his own witnesses to establish a defense. 388 U.S. at 19, 23, 87 S.Ct. at 1923, 1925. Oregon's reciprocal discovery statutes, ORS 135.805-.873, do not deny the right to call witnesses. They merely set forth a procedure which must be followed in the trial process, in ways similar to other statutes or court rules. For example, in order to secure the attendance of a witness, it may be necessary to subpoena the witness and pay the witness a witness fee. Absent service of a subpoena and payment of the witness fee, in a practical way, the defendant is precluded from calling that witness. A criminal defendant has a right to attend the trial. Or. Const. Art. I, § 10; U.S. Const.amend. VI. But that right is subject to reasonable limitations upon the defendant's conduct in the courtroom. See Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970) (defendant who continually attempts to disrupt trial proceedings can forfeit the right to be present at one's trial). In appropriate cases, constitutional rights must accommodate other legitimate interests in the criminal trial process. See Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 295, 302, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 1045, 1049, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973) (In the exercise of [the right of an accused to present witnesses in his own defense] the accused, as is required of the State, must comply with established rules of procedure and evidence designed to establish both fairness and reliability in the ascertainment of guilt and innocence.). Compulsory process constitutional clauses arose because of inequality between the prosecution's unrestricted right to call witnesses and the defendant's limited or nonexistent right to call witnesses. The framers perceived a need for the defendant to have the right to present evidence on an equal basis with the prosecution. See Westen, The Compulsory Process Clause, 73 Mich.L.Rev. 73, 95, 99 (1974). Reciprocal discovery statutes, to the extent that they restrict the defendant's right to obtain testimony, do so on the same basis that they restrict the state. Similarly, to the extent that the statutes extend discovery rights beyond those existing before the enactment of the statutes, they do so reciprocally. The discovery statutes were passed to give the accused a fairer trial, and to eliminate recesses, postponements and mistrials occurring incident to discovery during trial. It is doubtful whether the system will work unless sanctions can be imposed to enforce the statute. We must start with the basic premise that discovery, in the abstract at least, is a desirable thing since it will tend to eliminate the element of surprise with its attendant consequences, i.e., disruption, continuances, even unfairness itself, at trial. If discovery is a desirable adjunct of trial, the basic concept of fairness in an adversary system dictates that it be available to every party involved in the litigation. If it is available to all parties, it can only be a meaningful tool if the rights of discovery are enforceable. Kane, Criminal Discovery  The Circuitous Road to a Two-Way Street, 7 U.S.F. L.Rev. 203, 213 (1973). ORS 135.865 is evenhanded in the sense that it provides for reciprocal discovery and for sanctions against both the state and the defense. Many courts, indeed, most courts, have upheld preclusion as a legitimate sanction for the failure to make discovery on the theory that such statutes do not deny the right to compulsory process, but merely impose a reasonable condition to the exercise of that right. State v. Roberts, 226 Kan. 740, 602 P.2d 1355, 1358 (1979); State v. Smith, 88 N.M. 541, 543 P.2d 834, 836 (1975); [5] State ex rel. Simos v. Burke, 41 Wis.2d 129, 163 N.W.2d 177, 181-82 (1968). Contra: United States v. Davis, 639 F.2d 239, 243 (5th Cir.1981). We uphold the preclusion sanction of ORS 135.865 as applied by the trial court in this case. In so doing, however, we further hold that the intrusion upon the defendant's right to call witnesses should be no more than is necessary to achieve the purpose of the statutes.