Opinion ID: 1748579
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Trial Court Erred By Failing To Obtain And Review Potentially Material CHFS Records.

Text: When Dennis learned of the 2001 incident in which S.J. raised concerns that she had been inappropriately touched, he made a pretrial motion to inspect CHFS records pertaining to that incident. Because CHFS is an agent of the Commonwealth, in a criminal case its records are subject to discovery under RCr 7.24. Anderson v. Commonwealth, 864 S.W.2d 909 (Ky.1993). Because the Cabinet's records are otherwise confidential, however, under KRS 194A.060, the parties agreed that the records would initially be disclosed to the trial court for an in camera inspection. The court would then turn exculpatory or otherwise discoverable materials over to the defense and would place the remainder of the Cabinet's records under seal. This is a procedure deemed constitutionally adequate in Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, supra , and Commonwealth v. Barroso, 122 S.W.3d 554 (Ky.2003), and was the procedure employed under RCr 7.24 in Anderson, supra . Accordingly, the trial court ordered CHFS to produce all records concerning the minor child, [S.J.], and deliver same to the trial court. The order was meant to reach all records concerning S.J., including those from the 2001 investigation, but as the record forwarded to this Court under seal discloses, CHFS produced only those records from the then-pending 2006 investigation of Dennis. It may be, of course, that records from 2001 no longer existed and that the 2006 records were indeed all of the records CHFS had concerning S.J. Because Dennis was particularly interested in the 2001 records regarding S.J.'s earlier allegations of abuse, however, he was entitled to know whether such records existed and if they did to have the trial court inspect them. When CHFS's response to the trial court's discovery order included nothing from 2001, the trial court should have supplemented its order with a specific request for the 2001 materials. Instead, the trial court apparently overlooked the absence of those materials and determined merely that the 2006 records included nothing bearing on the 2001 allegation and were in no other way exculpatory. Although our own examination of the 2006 materials convinces us that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by deeming them non-discoverable, we agree with Dennis that the trial court erred when it failed to pursue the 2001 records. Accordingly, we must vacate Dennis's judgment and remand this matter for an inspection of the 2001 records, if they exist, and for a new trial if those records contain evidentiary material such that there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. at 57, 107 S.Ct. 989.