Opinion ID: 2632408
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Disclosure of Dr. Glover's Testing Data

Text: The trial court, after a defense-retained psychologist referred to psychological tests taken by defendant, ordered that the psychological test data be turned over to the prosecution. Defendant contends that this order was reversible error.
Dr. Oliver Glover, a psychologist, testified in support of defendant's pretrial motion to suppress statements he made during the police interviews of March 25 and 26, 1991. Dr. Glover had listened to the tapes of the police interrogations in order to form an opinion on whether defendant's statements were made voluntarily. At the suppression hearing, Dr. Glover opined that defendant's statements were made involuntarily. According to Dr. Glover, several factors combined to render defendant's statements involuntary: 1) defendant's fatigue; 2) his recent marijuana use; 3) the fictitious gunshot residue test; and 4) an anxiety condition causing a panic response in defendant when confronted by authority figures. Dr. Glover noted that he had administered numerous psychological tests to defendant. Although Dr. Glover stated that he did not give the tests to defendant in order to assess the voluntariness of defendant's statements to police, he acknowledged that he referred to the tests, and also to notes taken during examinations of defendant, in order to refresh his recollection before testifying. Additionally, Dr. Glover stated that he examined the tests to formulate his opinion about defendant's anxiety condition and to support his general diagnosis. The prosecution moved to discover Dr. Glover's test data, pursuant to Evidence Code sections 771 and 721, subdivision (a)(3). Defendant objected to disclosure of Dr. Glover's test data and notes, asserting that disclosure would violate the psychotherapist-patient privilege. The trial court overruled defendant's objection and ordered defense counsel to turn over to the prosecution Dr. Glover's notes, raw data, and the actual test materials. The trial court reasoned that the prosecutor was entitled to discovery of the evidence under Evidence Code section 771 for the purpose of cross-examining Dr. Glover. The record appears to support defendant's assertion that the prosecution never used the notes, raw data, and test materials obtained from Dr. Glover during the suppression hearing. The prosecution used these materials later, however, during the sanity phase of the trial. The defense objected to the prosecution questioning Dr. Paul Berg, a witness called by the prosecution, about Dr. Glover's results on the ground that it was improper for a witness to give an opinion based on another person's report. The trial court overruled this objection. Dr. Berg testified that defendant's scores on one psychological test showed that the proper diagnosis for defendant clearly would be antisocial personality disorder. Dr. Dale Watson, a witness called by the defense, was asked on cross-examination about certain of Dr. Glover's testing. Dr. Watson testified that, when asked to describe an image of the profile of a man standing in a window or French door, defendant responded: This is a burglar creeping into the window of a house to remove items he shouldn't have. He will soon exit the house and sell the items for cash money. He will get his money, have a good time, get broke, and do another burglary. Additionally, during closing argument, the prosecution argued that Dr. Glover's data revealed inconsistencies in defendant's sting indicating that he was malingering and emphasized Dr. Berg's conclusion t!hat defendant had antisocial personality disorder.
Defendant contends that the trial court committed reversible error in requiring disclosure to the prosecution of Dr. Glover's notes, test data, and test materials. He argues that this disclosure violated his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, as embodied in the psychotherapist-patient privilege (Evid. Code, § 1014) and attorney-client privilege (Evid.Code,§ 954), his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, and led to a verdict of death in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. However, during trial, the defense objected to the disclosure of Dr. Glover's materials only on the ground of the psychotherapist-patient privilege. Defendant has not identified, nor is the court aware of, any portion of the record showing that any other objection was made to this disclosure during the suppression hearing. Accordingly, defendant's other grounds for appealing the disclosure have been forfeited. The trial court did not err in requiring disclosure of Dr. Glover's materials. Evidence Code section 771, subdivision (a), provides: if a witness, either while testifying or prior thereto, uses a writing to refresh his memory with respect to any matter about which he testifies, such writing must be produced at the hearing at the request of an adverse party and, unless the writing is so produced, the testimony of the witness concerning such matter shall be stricken. The adverse party may ... inspect the writing, cross-examine the witness concerning it, and introduce In evidence such portion of it as may be pertinent to the testimony of the witness. (Evi.Code, § 771, subd. (b).) Additionally, Evidence Code section 721, subdivision (a), provides in pertinent part that a witness testifying as an expert may be cross-examined to the same extent as any other witness and, in addition, may be fully cross-examined as to ... the matter upon which his or her opinion is based and the reasons for his or her opinion. Such cross-examination properly includes documents and records examined by an expert witness in preparing his or her testimony. ( People v. Osband (1996) 13 Cal.4th 622, 712, 55 Cal.Rptr.2d 26, 919 P.2d 640.) Dr. Glover stated during his testimony that he used the tests to refresh his recollection before testifying at the hearing. Defendant disputes whether Dr. Glover actually consulted the test data before testifying, relying on statements made by Dr. Glover that his opinion in court was not based upon any psychological tests whatsoever. However, defendant fails to note that Dr. Glover made these statements more than a month after the trial court had ordered that the prosecution be given the test materials. Dr. Glover's contradictory statements, given well after the trial court's ruling, do not indicate that the trial court abused its discretion in requiring defendant to produce the test data, notes, and materials. Before the trial court ruled on this issue, Dr. Glover had conceded to the prosecution that he had relied upon certain portions of the testing to formulate his opinion about defendant's anxiety condition, which was a strong factor in Dr. Glover's conclusion that defendant's statements were involuntary. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that without examining the tests upon which Dr. Glover founded his conclusion, the prosecution may not have been able to cross-examine him effectively.