Opinion ID: 2265985
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the january 23, 1991 charges

Text: At the pre-trial evidentiary hearing, the trial court orally denied Appellant's motion to produce the identity of the confidential informant. Implicit in this ruling is the judgement that Appellant failed to prove that his need for the confidential informant's identity outweighed the Commonwealth's privilege. We agree insofar as this conclusion relates to the January 23, 1991 charges and, thus, we cannot conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that Appellant failed to prove that his need outweighed the Commonwealth's privilege. The trial court stated, I do not think that ... the Defense [i.e., Appellant] has made a showing that the CI was in a position to have information which is critical to the defense such as to warrant the production of the CI. N.T. at p. 53 (May 28, 1992). We understand this to be a determination that in light of the fact that Albert Austin had made himself available to Appellant in order to testify that Appellant was not present at the January 23, 1991 drug sale, [10] which corroborated Appellant's own testimony, Appellant failed to show that he needed the testimony of the confidential informant. U.S. v. Simonetti, 326 F.2d 614, 615 (2d Cir.1964)(no abuse of trial court's discretion in denying disclosure where the testimony of the Special Employee [i.e., the confidential informant] would have been at best cumulative.); Suarez v. U.S., 582 F.2d 1007, 1012 (5th Cir.1978)(no error in denying disclosure where the informant's testimony in Suarez was not essential to the appellant's defense as was the case in Roviaro because the confidential informant therein represented the only likely source of exculpatory information.) Cf. Commonwealth v. Christy, 540 Pa. 192, 656 A.2d 877 (1995)(arguably erroneous exclusion of some evidence was harmless because other similar evidence was admitted and thus no prejudice); Henery v. Shadle, 443 Pa.Super. 331, 661 A.2d 439 (1995)(erroneous exclusion of evidence harmless where similar evidence was admitted). Our conclusion that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in deciding that Appellant failed to prove his need for the information outweighed the Commonwealth's privilege is bolstered by the actual testimony of Albert Austin at Appellant's trial. Appellant essentially alleged that the testimony of the confidential informant would have corroborated his theory that Detective Kacsuta mistakenly identified Appellant as the seller. At trial, Appellant testified, and denied being present at the transaction or having ever met Detective Kacsuta. Albert Austin, who admittedly was present at, and involved in the transaction on January 23, and subsequently pleaded guilty to possession, delivery and conspiracy based on his participation therein, testified at Appellant's trial that Appellant was not present or involved in any way with that transaction. At best, the confidential informant's testimony would have merely duplicated Albert Austin's testimony. In light of the fact that this testimony would have at best been cumulative of Albert Austin's testimony, the trial court's exercise of discretion in denying Appellant the information as it relates to the January 23, 1991 charges was vindicated. Accordingly, we affirm the judgement of sentence arising out of the January 23, 1991 charges. The order of the Superior Court is thus vacated in part and affirmed in part. NEWMAN, J., files a concurring opinion in which NIX, C.J., joins. CASTILLE, J., files a concurring and dissenting opinion.