Opinion ID: 2097440
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Error in Discovery Order

Text: Appellant filed a special motion for discovery in which he requested information on all murder charges filed in Indiana since October 1977, the effective date of the current death penalty statute. Van Cleave stated he needed the information to substantiate his allegation that Indiana's death penalty statute is not standard and uniform in its application and that it had been unconstitutionally applied against him. After a hearing, the court ordered the State to provide any files on any cases in Marion County since 1979 in which the death penalty is involved and ... to provide case names and numbers, if available, as to any Murder charges since 1979. The State sought relief from the order on the grounds that it was oppressive. It indicated that it had a list of approximately 200 homicide cases since January 1979, but that, because of computer limitations, it was not a complete list. The State contended that a manual search of Indianapolis Police Department files would provide the requested information, but that it would require great expense and many hours of labor. The State claimed the information was not relevant and that only information on other death penalty cases was pertinent. Thus, it requested an amended order limiting discovery to those cases since January 1979 in which the death penalty charge had been filed. The court amended its order to include only provision of all records pertaining to all cases in which the death sentence was requested in Marion County since June 1, 1979. Subsequently, the State provided all police homicide reports for the six months preceding the discovery order and the charging informations and reports for 9 homicides since 1979 in which, apparently, the death penalty was filed. Van Cleave did not file any objection to the court's amended discovery order, but raised the error in his motion to correct error and in his brief, alleging the final order prevented him from demonstrating that the death penalty is routinely applied in Marion County only against blacks charged with killing whites. The trial court has broad discretion in discovery matters and has the inherent power to guide and control proceedings. Spears v. State (1980), 272 Ind. 634, 401 N.E.2d 331. Absent clear error, this Court will not overturn the trial court's discovery ruling. Wagner v. State (1985), Ind., 474 N.E.2d 476. The State made a detailed showing of the burden it would have endured under the court's original discovery order. It contended that the data from the death penalty cases alone would suffice to prove or disprove appellant's allegation that the death penalty was sought disproportionately against blacks who kill whites. Indeed, after appellant was provided with the information under the amended order, no motion to dismiss the death sentence information was filed on the basis of racial discrimination. Van Cleave has not convincingly shown that the court erred. The amended order reasonably afforded him an opportunity to substantiate his allegations. If there was some substantial basis for his claim, the information provided should have formed a foundation from which evidence could have been presented to the trial court. He was not deprived of the opportunity to litigate the issue fully, as he claims, citing the only case relied upon for his argument, Gasaway v. State (1967), 249 Ind. 241, 231 N.E.2d 513, which is completely inapposite.