Opinion ID: 2377101
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Cavanaugh Subpoena Duces Tecum

Text: Again, as outlined above, the subpoena duces tecum directed to special counsel Cavanaugh called for his testimony and the production of his September 10, 2007, affidavit and three pieces of August 2006 correspondence between him and CHPP counsel. The correspondence followed Cavanaugh's inquiry about written determinations of fetal viability missing from the patient records as initially produced by CHPP. One of those pieces of correspondence is the August 21, 2006, letter from Irigonegaray to Cavanaugh, which enclosed the KDHE reports described as copies and upon which Kline said he would so heavily depend to prove the felony counts in this criminal prosecution. The State's Notice of Interlocutory Appeal was timely and specific enough to create appellate jurisdiction over the Cavanaugh subpoena. As an initial matter on this subpoena duces tecum, we note that Cavanaugh was not covered by this court's April 4, 2008, protective order. However, when Judge Anderson received it, he issued an order of his own, ostensibly in the Inquisition that had already been closed by Attorney General Morrison, to prevent Cavanaugh from appearing or producing documents in this criminal prosecution. In addition, Judge Anderson filed his motion for protective order on behalf of himself and Cavanaugh. After hearing, Judge Tatum apparently quashed the subpoena duces tecum directed to Cavanaugh for the same reason he quashed the subpoena duces tecum directed to Judge Anderson. Again, this opinion constitutes the further order of this court referenced in our April 4, 2008, protective order. It appears that Judge Tatum's ruling regarding Cavanaugh entirely rested upon our protective order, as extended to cover Cavanaugh by Judge Anderson. Indeed, it is now apparent that our protective order would have explicitly covered Cavanaugh as well as Judge Anderson when the order was first entered, had this court been made aware that Cavanaugh also had been subpoenaed to appear and produce documents at the preliminary hearing. In any event, as with Judge Anderson, our modification of order in this opinion requires Judge Tatum's ruling regarding Cavanaugh to be affirmed in part and reversed in part.